Rescuing the Cub
by daydreamer-in-chief
Summary: Remus Lupin doesn't consider himself to be an appropriate guardian for a child. But when the only other option is magic hating muggle relatives, he has to do something. He surprises himself with how far he is willing to go to save his best friend's son.
1. Chapter 1: First Impressions

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: There are lots of stories where Sirius, members of the Black family, or even muggles rescue Harry from his relatives. But I have found none where Lupin rescues him. I understand the reason this is unlikely of course. He is too close to Dumbledore and as a werewolf without money, he would find it difficult to raise a child. But I think he would attempt it if he finds out that the Durseys are abusing Harry and Dumbledore insists on keeping him there.

Chapter 1: First Impressions

Harry Potter was a strange boy. Strange things always happened around him. He had started school the previous week. On the night before his first day at school, his aunt had cut his hair very short, because she didn't like how messy it looked. The next morning it had grown back to look the way it always looked.

Then there was school. Harry's aunt, uncle and cousin hated him. He had hoped he would have some respite from his cousin while he was at school. But that was not the case. His cousin was in the same class as him. And even worse, Dudley had a gang whose favourite game was Harry hunting. Harry had been caught once. He still had bruises.

The next time when they had been chasing him, he was scared. And the strangest thing had happened. He had disappeared and reappeared on the roof. He had been locked in his cupboard for the rest of the week after that.

But right now locked in the cupboard under the stairs, he was not thinking about the strange things. He was hoping once again that someone would come and take him away. He knew nobody would come. His parents had been drunks and got themselves killed in a car crash. That was why he was living with his relatives who hated him. But he wished once again that he had some distant relative who would come to take him away from his relatives' home.

* * *

Remus Lupin was working as a deliveryman. It didn't pay well and it was a job in the muggle world. But it wasn't a bad job. He couldn't get a job in the wizarding world anymore. He couldn't work at the full moon, and eventually his employers would get suspicious. He could never keep a job for more than a few months. Now that he had worked for so many people and been absent for so many full moons, almost everyone had heard the rumors. Nobody would hire him in the wizarding world.

He looked at the address on the last package for the day. The name of the small town sounded familiar. Like he had heard it before. But he had been going round in circles for an hour. He had a good sense of direction if he said so himself. And he simply couldn't understand why he kept getting lost. He looked for the address, while trying to remember. After an hour and a half of searching he finally found it and as he dropped the parcel at the right address on Magnolia Crescent, he saw a sign saying Privet Drive. Of course, he remembered. Lily's sister lived there.

The thought brought a wave of pain. Lily and James Potter his best friends were dead. And his other best friend had killed them. He refused to even think the name. But Harry might be here he realized. He had tried to see the little boy when James and Lily had died and Sirius, no Black was sent to Azkaban. But Dumbledore had told him Harry would be safer if nobody knew where he lived. But he knew that Dumbledore had sent the little boy to live with Lily's muggle relatives, whose own son was the same age.

He had to agree with Dumbledore, of course. Harry was safer in the muggle world.

He looked at the sign again. He had promised Dumbledore that he wouldn't look for Harry. It wouldn't do to draw attention to him after all. He was safe not just because of the wards Dumbledore had put on the house, but also because nobody knew where he was or who he lived with.

But he was so close. His best friend's son, his cub lived just around the corner. He could just wait till he got a glimpse of Harry. He couldn't go into the house, of course. Dumbledore had told him the wards would not let him in because werewolves were dark creatures.

He walked down Privet Drive and wondered idly what Harry might be doing. He might not even be at home. If fact, he was probably playing with his friends at the park. He had passed a park on the way here. If Harry wasn't at home he would check there next.

He stopped across the street from Number 4 Privet Drive. There was a small boy with messy black hair working in the garden. He looked up and Remus saw that he was really Harry Potter. And he looked so much like James. Before he could consider his actions, he waved to the boy.

Harry seemed to be surprised at first. But he waved back. Remus beckoned him to come to him. Harry came across the street and he was immediately worried. The little boy had a bruise on his right cheek and a burn on his left hand. But he was James' son with Lily's eyes. Why was Harry working in the garden with a burned hand. And he was wearing someone else's old clothes. But that might be because they were going to get dirty. That was not important. Harry was hurt.

When Harry stopped in front of him, he already had his wand in his hand. But he couldn't just start casting spells. Harry hadn't even recognized him.

"Hello Harry. I'm Remus Lupin. I went to school with your parents," Remus said with a smile.

"Hello Mr. Lupin," Harry replied shyly.

"I'm going to heal your hand, ok?" he asked.

Harry looked at him curiously. Didn't he know about magic? It was possible, he lived with muggles, Remus thought.

"I can do magic, Harry," he explained. "Let me show you."

"But magic isn't real," Harry objected.

"Let me show you," Remus repeated holding out his hand.

Harry gave him his injured hand. Remus pointed his wand at it and performed the complex movement for the healing charm. He had been the best student in his class. And as a werewolf he had a lot of practice with healing spells.

Harry was examining his healed hand with amazement. "You can really do magic!" He looked back at his hand. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Maybe when you're older. It's a difficult spell," Remus replied. Harry's face fell immediately. "But there are lots of spells which are easier. You'll be learning them very soon."

"Really? Can you teach me?" Harry asked again.

"Why don't you try a spell?" he said, giving his wand to Harry.

Harry took the wand and he adjusted his grip on it. "Ok. Now say Lumos," Remus said.

"Lumos." And the wand immediately lit up. "Wow!" Harry said, "I can do magic!"

After extinguishing his wand and taking it back, Remus asked, "Harry, how did you get burned? And why were you working in the garden when you were hurt?"

Remus Lupin was furious. He had never wanted to hurt anyone as much as he wanted to hurt those horrible muggles. Not hurting them before leaving Privet Drive was the most difficult thing he had done in his life.

But he had recognized that attacking muggles would not help Harry. He needed to make sure Harry got away from them first. He had done what he thought would help Harry the most. He had apparated outside Hogwarts, and rushed to the headmaster's office. He would tell Dumbledore what Harry had told him and Dumbledore would move Harry to a good wizarding family. Then the Dursleys would be tried before the Wizengamot and get a nice long stay in Azkaban. Dumbledore would take care of everything.

"Remus," Dumbledore called. He had not even reached the castle yet. Was the man actually omniscient?

"Albus, I just saw Harry," he said in a rush. He ignored the headmaster's disapproving expression. His story was more important. "His relatives are hurting him. They make him do all the housework and he was burnt while cooking, but they didn't even treat his hand. They were making him work in the garden even with a burned hand…"

"Remus, surely you have misunderstood the situation. Children always complain about doing chores. And his family must not have realized he had injured his hand. You are worrying without reason."

Remus stared at the headmaster. He realized he had been rambling. But how could Dumbledore say that he had misunderstood? Harry's relatives were the worst kind of people. People who hurt innocent children. They were no better than Death Eaters and they deserved the same punishment. Why didn't Dumbledore see that?

His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Dumbledore said, "I will however investigate and take measures to ensure young Harry's safety."

Remus was relieved. Yes that was the right thing to do. If they were going to be sent to Azkaban, an investigation was necessary. He was not needed to deal with Harry's so called family.

"Thank you headmaster. That is all I ask," Remus said, before taking his leave.

* * *

The next day was the full moon and Remus was keen to get to his heavily warded cabin, where he would be away from people he could harm.

Two days after the full moon, Remus was finally recovered enough to return to civilization. He had not gone home in favor of Diagon Alley. He wanted to know who Harry was living with and when the Dursleys would be tried before the Wizengamot. He planned to attend the trial.

But he was disappointed. There was no news in the Daily Prophet. It was time to go back to work.

As he made deliveries that day, he couldn't get Harry out of his mind. He would insist on meeting his new family, he decided. It was almost a month to the next full moon. It would be perfectly safe.

It made sense that the Daily Prophet hadn't reported who Harry lived with now. It would be safer that way. But he had to make sure he was happy with them. He deserved to know. He had found out his relatives were mistreating him after all. Even Dumbledore didn't know until Remus had told him.

He had decided, he would speak to Dumbledore and find out where Harry was after work.

* * *

Remus Lupin was waiting outside the Hogwarts staff room. He had spent the last three hours at the school. It was late, but he was determined to meet Dumbledore before he left. Minerva had hinted that Dumbledore was busy and he should leave. But Remus had told her he would wait no matter how long it took. He might have been less polite than he should have been but he didn't care. Harry's safety was at stake.

"Lupin, what are you doing here? Shouldn't the wards have stopped you from getting into the school?" It was Snape.

"Good evening Snape," Remus said through gritted teeth. He had no patience for him right now. Was Dumbledore avoiding him?

"In any case, I can escort you outside myself. As a Professor of Hogwarts, it's my responsibility to keep the students safe," Snape said with a smug expression.

"I'm waiting for Dumbledore," Remus replied, refusing to take the bait.

"Dumbledore has better things to do than talk to dark creatures," Snape spat at him.

"What might that be? Employing more Death Eaters?" Remus asked, finally losing his patience.

"How dare you!" Snape roared, drawing his wand. Remus hurried to draw his own.

"Hello Remus, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore asked walking down the corridor towards him and Snape.

Remus lowered his wand and greeted Dumbledore. "I was hoping to ask what has been done about the problem we spoke about three days ago," he said.

Dumbledore gave him a piercing stare, and said, "Shall we go to my office?"

Once the door to Dumbledore's office had been shut, Remus started asking his questions, "Where is Harry? When can I speak to him? What's going to happen to the Dursleys?"

"Remus, Harry is with his family. I have spoken to them and they will take better care of Harry in the future," Dumbledore said in a placating tone.

"Have you really gone senile?" Remus asked. Then he blushed, and apologized.

"I understand you are upset. It's fine my boy. You need not worry yourself. Everything has been taken care of," Dumbledore said.

"What do you mean? They didn't care that Harry had been burnt for the whole day! And they lock him in a cupboard! Surely that is a crime. Harry can't live with them. Any wizarding family would take him in." Remus wondered if he was still in his cabin having an absurd dream. It was impossible that Dumbledore wanted Harry to continue living with those people.

"Harry can't be sent to live with a wizarding family. The fame would go to his head. He needs to live in the muggle world, so that he can have a normal childhood."

"You don't know what will happen if he lives with a wizarding family. And he isn't having a normal childhood. His family treats him worse than a house elf," Remus said obviously frustrated. What was wrong with Dumbledore?

"I have spoken with Petunia. Harry will be treated better now," Dumbledore said in his infuriatingly calm voice.

Remus was fighting to keep his temper under control. He should have made sure he was near those sorry excuses for humans at the full moon. Then they wouldn't be having this argument. He tried to keep his voice even as he said, "You can't just take her word! If Harry must live in the muggle world, at least send him to live somewhere else." He thought he was being very reasonable. Why was Dumbledore refusing to understand?

Dumbledore closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Remus, Harry has to live with Petunia. When Lily died to save Harry from Voldermort, she gave Harry powerful protection. He will be safe as long as he lives with his mother's blood. He needs to stay where he is."

So that was why Dumbledore was so determined to keep Harry with those people. A lot of Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban. And even worse, Dumbledore thought You-Know-Who wasn't dead.

"I hope you understand Remus. Harry is safe there," Dumbledore said.

Remus knew he would get nowhere with any more arguments. Dumbledore was sure he was doing the right thing. He nodded and left.

He was still deep in thought as he walked out of the school and aparated home.

* * *

He paced the kitchen as he thought about the problem. Dumbledore thought that Harry was safe. And he was probably safe from Death Eaters and Voldermort. But his relatives were definitely hurting him. He needed to do something. But what?

Remus paced and considered his options for the rest of the night. He knew that you couldn't have everything. You had to decide what was important. He would have to talk to Harry before he did anything. Even if he was only six, it was his life. He deserved to make his own decisions.

The next morning, Remus drove his delivery van to the little town Harry lived in. He had transfigured his delivery uniform into casual clothes, so that he wouldn't attract too much attention.

He was waiting near the local primary school that he hoped Harry would be attending.

Half an hour later he saw Harry walking towards the school. He called to Harry, "Can I speak to you for a minute Harry?"

Harry immediately rushed to him with a smile. "Mr. Lupin!" he exclaimed.

"Would you like to take a trip with me today?" he asked, "We can make sure the teacher doesn't miss you."

"You really want me to come with you?" he asked.

"Of course. Let's go."

They were in the delivery van and Remus had driven them out of town. They had played an amusing game of guessing what was in the parcels for a while. Remus had parked the van near the side of the road, and put a dozen security spells on it. He then disillusioned Harry and made him promise he wouldn't leave the van for any reason.

When Harry agreed, he delivered all the parcels by apparition. When he was back after the last delivery, he was carrying lunch for him and Harry.

While they ate, he asked Harry what had changed since the last time they met.

"I sleep in Dudley's second bed room now. And Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are more angry than usual. Nothing else changed," Harry replied between bites.

Remus was getting angry again. Dumbledore had said Harry would be safe. Leaving him alone without a wand in a house full of people who hated him was definitely not safe. But he had to make sure. "Do you still cook food and do the gardening?" he asked.

"Yes and I also do laundry and wash the dishes. And I have to wash the car on weekends," Harry said. Then he resumed eating as if it was normal for a six year old boy to do all that work.

"Will you come and live with me for some time Harry?" he asked.

Harry froze and he wondered if he had said something wrong. "Can I really? When can we leave?" he asked.

Surely it was not normal for a child to want to leave his home with a stranger, he thought. That just proved that the Dursleys were the worst kind of people. "We've already left," he said with a smile. "Although I need to go back and cast some spells to make sure that your aunt and uncle won't miss you."

"Do we have to? They won't even notice I'm not there," Harry said. That was definitely not normal. Remus clamped down on his temper again. He couldn't afford to scare Harry now. Also now was a good time to explain some other things.

"Before we go, I have something important to tell you. I'm a werewolf." Harry merely looked back at him. So he explained, "I turn into a wolf on the night of the full moon. And I can be dangerous." He didn't know what else to say. He really didn't want to scare Harry.

"Do I have to be a werewolf to go with you?" Harry finally asked.

"NO!" he shouted, and Harry started. Harry! He didn't even want to think about it. "I mean that its dangerous for you to be near me at the full moon. So you'll have to be alone at home. But I'll make sure you are safe."

"Ok. We're still leaving?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yes. We're still leaving. But I had to warn you first." He smiled and Harry smiled back. He realized that he was taking advantage of the situation. Harry didn't know anything about the wizarding world, so he hadn't even blinked when Remus had told him he would be living with a werewolf. And after being treated like a house elf, he was offering Harry a home where he would actually be treated like a person. But he really couldn't see what else he could do. He couldn't leave Harry where Dumbledore had put him. And he couldn't do anything to stop Dumbledore legally.

"Mr. Lupin, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing is wrong Harry. But I need to tell you a story."

Harry nodded, and he started, "Your parents were my best friends at school. When we finished school, we decided to fight against an evil wizard. He thought people whose parents couldn't do magic shouldn't learn magic. But we believed that no matter who your family is, all witches and wizards should be allowed to learn magic."

Harry was listening with rapt attention. He continued, "Your parents were very brave, and they stopped the evil wizard from doing many bad things. That made him angry. And he attacked them. He broke into their home and killed them, but he couldn't kill you. When he tried to kill you, he lost his power somehow. And you are famous in the wizarding world because of it."

"I'm famous?" Harry asked confused.

"For ending the war with the evil wizard," Remus replied.

"But I didn't do anything. I don't even remember…" Harry was getting upset.

"Harry please don't worry about it. It doesn't matter."

He had started driving back to Harry's school. After a long silence he had decided to tell Harry what Dumbledore had said.

"Harry, the headmaster of the school I went to, Dumbledore, is a great wizard. He was the leader of the group who opposed the evil wizard … Voldermort."

"Voldermort?" Harry asked confused by the unusual name.

"Yes that's the name he took, when he started gaining power. Everyone was so afraid of him that nobody uses his name. He is called You Know Who.

"The day he attacked your family, he lost his powers. But Dumbledore thinks he didn't die. And because your mother died to save you, she gave you some kind of protection. Dumbledore thinks you will be safe from this wizard and his followers if you live with your aunt because she is related to your mother by blood."

"I don't care. I don't want to go back," Harry objected.

Remus smiled to reassure him. "You don't have to. I'm going to do everything I can. But you need to know that you won't be as safe with me."

"But you can do magic. Aunt Petunia thinks magic isn't real," Harry said.

"Your aunt knows magic is real. Her sister was a witch and went to Hogwarts," Remus said. "The magic school," he added at Harry's confused look.

While Harry considered his words, they were back in Little Whinning. He parked the van and put the security spells on it again. Harry promised to stay in the van without being asked this time. "You learn quickly," he said with a smile.

Then he apparated to the school and modified Harry's teacher's memory and the attendance records. Then he apparated back.

He found out from Harry that his uncle drove to work and would be back in half an hour. He waited in the car for the right time, then walked to No. 4 Privet Drive. He didn't want to apparate in case the someone else came to investigate the sound.

He had already cast a disillusionment charm on himself. He didn't have to wait long before Vernon Dursley arrived home from work. He parked the car and got out. When his back was turned, Remus threw a rock into the car's window.

He waited on the other side of the street as Vernon looked around for the person who had thrown the rock. He started complaining about some boy who was always causing trouble. Remus smiled as he crossed the street. He was outside the wards.

"Imperio," he said pointing his wand at Vernon Dursley. The feeling of absolute power over someone was like nothing he had felt before. He relished the feeling for a second. This man had made Harry's life hell for five years. And now Remus Lupin held his life in the palm of his hand.

But he wouldn't do anything that would attract attention just yet. He would wait till his argument with Dumbledore faded from everyone's mind. He gave Harry's uncle his first command, "Bring your wife here."

Harry's uncle didn't even show surprise at the disembodied voice. He turned and went into the house. A few minutes later, he walked back holding his wife's arm.

Petunia was confused and worried. "Why are we outside Vernon? What's going on?"

"Imperio," Remus said pointing his wand at her. "Both of you listen. You will tell anyone who asks that Harry is ill and has to stay in bed. You will not try to find out where he is. If anyone asks about me or Harry, you will not tell them anything. You will act normally and not allow your neighbors to become suspicious."

He sent them back to the house, and walked back to the van. Harry was getting restless, so he started driving back to return the van. Harry thought being invisible was cool and he promised to teach him the spell later. The disillusionment charm was difficult but it would be very useful if Harry got into trouble.

Harry stayed quiet while Remus returned the van and the signed receipts for the deliveries. Then he walked into a deserted alley with Harry and disapprated to his parents' cottage.

Once they were home, he made Harry visible again. Harry thought it was a great adventure and wanted to do it again the next day.

After Harry had eaten dinner and gone to sleep in the spare bedroom, Remus sat in the kitchen with a glass of firewhiskey. He had been staring at the amber liquid for the last half an hour. He had kidnapped Harry Potter from under Dumbedore's nose. And he had put Harry's aunt and uncle under the Imperious curse. If anyone found out about either of those things his life would not be worth living.

But he had resuced his friend's son from an unhappy childhood and that was something to be proud of.

A/N: This is my first story, so please let me know what you think. Is anyone upset that Lupin used an Unforgivable curse on Harry's muggle relatives? Does anyone think it is out of character? Would oblivating them be enough to avoid drawing attention to Harry's absence? Was there a better solution that I have missed? Let me know in a review!

In the next chapter: Harry lives a normal life with Lupin. But that would be too boring. So they will also steal from Dumbledore and kill the boy-who-lived. It should be up before the end of the week.


	2. Chapter 2: Harry Potter No More

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Remus knew that Harry's disappearance would attract attention. So he needed the muggles to to keep up the charade that Harry was still with them. But he also knew that eventually Dumbledore would investigate. And he would get caught. He had considered taking Harry with him and leaving the country. But would they really be able to outrun everyone in wizarding Britain? He seriously doubted that. They needed a better plan. And if everyone thought Harry was still with his relatives, they would have time to plan.

He got up and started pacing. He was not at all confident that Harry would be safe in his house. He would have to update the wards. No better still, he would move Harry to a house that nobody would associate with him and put up the best protections he could think of.

Then there was the problem of him taking care of a child. Harry was no longer a baby. But that didn't mean he was prepared to look after him. He couldn't ask anyone for help either. He continued to pace.

He hoped that nobody was suspicious of him yet. He needed time to buy another house, and move with Harry. He wanted to move to the suburbs of London. That would attract the least attention. People in small towns asked more questions. A widower and his young son wouldn't attract too much attention in muggle London.

The next day they went out to make deliveries, and he took Harry with him. Since he could apparate to deliver the parcels, they were able to go to a mall in London, to buy clothes for Harry. Remus also bought him muggle books.

Harry had been overwhelmed with all the new things Remus had bought for him. Remus was angry enough to use another unforgivable curse on his relatives. In five years, they had never bought anything for Harry. He would make them pay.

Harry had been unhappy when Remus insisted he learn to read before he could do any magic. But Remus had told Harry that he would have to read spell books to learn magic. That had been a convincing argument.

Harry didn't get car sick if he tried to read while Remus was driving. That meant he could go with Remus everyday, and read his muggle books. Since Harry had never been outside Little Whinning before, Remus thought seeing more of the countryside was good for Harry.

Harry had proven to be a quick learner and Remus assumed it had something to do with his excitement for learning magic.

* * *

The first full moon with Harry had been stressful for both of them. Since they had always been together for the whole month, Harry had cried when Remus had to leave. Remus had given him a dreamless sleep potion and promised to be back the next morning.

He was not at all comfortable leaving Harry alone in his house. Too many things could go wrong. And in spite of the additional protections he had put on it, he was worried that a determined attacker could break in.

He was back the next morning. Nothing had gone wrong during the night, but Harry was alarmed when he saw the state he was in. Harry had insisted on cooking for him and taking care of him for the next two days. He had to admit that Harry had done as much work as he would if he was still living with his horrible relatives. He seemed to think that he needed to prove his worth, and nothing Remus said could reassure him. Once again Remus was thinking of unpleasant things he wanted to do to Harry's relatives.

* * *

When he had finally recovered, he agreed to teach Harry how to do magic. Harry had decided he wanted to learn how to make things fly. He had already read the chapters in his old charms textbook and was practically bouncing with excitement.

"The incantation is Wingardium Leviosa," Remus said pronouncing the words carefully for Harry. Then he demonstrated the swish and flick wand movement.

He gave his wand to Harry. Harry took the wand and tried the spell. But nothing happened. He asked Harry to keep trying. After half an hour with no progress, Harry was getting impatient.

"No Harry, you need to pronounce the words clearly."

"But it's not working. What if I can't do magic anymore?"

Remus sighed. "Harry, that spell is taught to eleven year olds. You're only six. It's going to take time to learn. And you're using my wand. It might not be working well for you. Don't worry, you just need practice."

It had been three days and Harry still insisted on practicing the levitation charm. It had not worked even once. Remus was starting to doubt the logic behind teaching a six year old how to do magic. Many children hadn't even done accidental magic at that age.

Harry had learnt theory much quicker than he had expected and he had forgotten how young Harry really was. He wanted to teach Harry to defend himself before he went to Hogwarts. Harry was famous for defeating You Know Who. He was sure to be challenged or attacked. But they still had five years before they needed to worry about any of that. Harry didn't need to obsessively practice spells right now.

"It's still not working," Harry said dejectedly over dinner.

"Why don't you try the Lumos spell?" Remus asked trying to cheer him up.

Harry picked up his wand and said, "Lumos." It lit up immediately. That brightened his mood. He said, "Nox," to put the light out.

"See you can still do magic. Maybe we should try another spell after dinner," Remus said with a smile.

"Can we really? What should we try?" Harry asked excited to learn more magic.

Remus had taught Harry the Jelly legs jinx. He remembered learning it in first year without any problems. And Harry had learnt it quickly as well. He had successfully cast it on Remus at least a dozen times.

As he carried Harry to his bedroom he reconsidered his approach to teaching Harry. Not all first year spells were easy. He would have to wait till Harry was older to teach some of them. He could teach Harry potions and history. They were his worst subjects. But he wasn't going to tell Harry that. But maybe he would do some revision first, he thought with a smile.

* * *

A few weeks later, Remus had enrolled Harry at a small primary school near his parents' cottage. Harry had not been keen on going and had even cried on the first day. But Remus was helping him study and Harry was starting to make friends. He smiled to himself as he saw his little cub doing his homework in the living room.

After a lot of determined questioning, Remus had learnt that Harry's cousin had bullied him and anyone who was nice to him at Harry's old school. So Harry had no friends and didn't like school. And to make matters worse, his aunt and uncle even accused Harry of cheating when he had done better than their son. He really wanted to kill those muggles.

He reminded himself that he really couldn't attract the attention of the wizarding world right now. Harry would be safer with him if everyone else thought he was with those muggles. But he was going to make them pay.

"Harry I'll be back in an hour," he called as he collected his coat and scarf.

"See you later, Uncle Moony," Harry called back looking up from his book.

Remus apparated to Harry's relatives house. Making sure he was disillusioned, he waited for Harry's uncle. When he arrived, Remus wasted no time in giving him instructions.

He knew that Harry's uncle worked at a company that made drills. And he also knew that Harry's aunt didn't work and had never worked in her life. They were very proud of the fact that they were well to do, respectable members of the community. And they had the audacity to tell Harry that he was a burden on their hardworking family. They had tried to extract the price for their "generosity" in housing and feeding a child by turning him into a servant! Just thinking about it was enough to make his blood boil.

But Remus was determined to upset their perfect world. He had suggested to Harry's imperioused uncle that he deserved more money than Grunnings gave him. And if his bosses didn't give him a raise, he could take it by other means. That had been surprisingly easy. The pompous man was practically finishing his sentences. Remus had not told him to steal, but he was sure that when the company realized what had happened, he would at least lose his job for embezzlement.

* * *

A few weeks after that Remus was curious about the fallout of Harry's uncle stealing from his employers. What Vernon had done was unambiguously a crime. He wondered why he hadn't been caught. After investigating further, Remus had found out that Vernon had indeed stolen money from his company and some of the other employees still gossiped about it. But they thought there was a cover up. They just didn't know how. But Remus had put the pieces together. A wizard had intervened to stop Vernon from losing his job. And he was almost certain that wizard was Dumbledore, because Harry's relatives had no other friends in the wizarding world.

He was furious. The senile old man couldn't make sure that Harry was safe, but he was protecting Vernon from paying for his crimes! But he also recognized that this was not a fight he could afford to pick. And so he had left things as they were.

* * *

It had been an unremarkable day, when both Remus and Harry were in the house reading. As he often did when he had free time, Remus was considering various ways he could hide Harry from the Death Eaters, Dumbledore and the rest of the wizarding world.

He was looking at Harry's untidy hair, when he came to a shocking conclusion. But was it true?

He tried to keep his voice calm, and asked, "Harry, when was the last time you had a hair cut?"

Harry looked surprised at the question. But he told him that his Aunt Petunia had cut his hair really short and it had grown back overnight.

Now Remus could hardly keep the excitement from his voice. "And when did you have a haircut before that?" he asked.

Harry looked confused at that, but eventually he said, "I've never had a haircut before that."

Remus jumped to his feet. "You mean your hair never grows longer than this?"

Harry just seemed to have realized that this was unusual. But he didn't know what it meant. He just looked confused as he shook his head.

He looked even more confused at the wild smile on Remus' face, as he said, "Harry can you close your eyes and concentrate on your hair?"

Harry did as he had asked. Then he said, "Now concentrate on making it longer."

Harry's brow furrowed in confusion and he asked, "But how…"

"Just think about it getting longer. Concentrate on how you want it to look."

Remus gaped open mouthed as Harry' hair extended past his waist. "Harry, stop," he said when he had regained the ability to speak.

So Harry really was a metamorphmagus. That would solve all their problems!

* * *

Remus was looking at a thick muggle letter that he had picked up from a P.O. Box. He was quite sure it contained good news. He decided to wait till Harry came back from his friend's house.

It had been a year since Harry had come to live with him. He was happier than he had ever been in his life. There were so many things that could go wrong. He was a werewolf, and he was poor. He also had no experience in taking care of children.

But everything had been surprisingly easy. Harry was not a difficult child. He was hardworking and eager to please. He often cooked breakfast and dinner. Even though he was only seven years old, he was already a better cook than Remus would ever be. Harry also didn't mind being alone for a few days every month. He was surprisingly self sufficient.

He also studied diligently, although Remus suspected that it was only to please him. But the teachers at his school had taken note of Harry. And Remus agreed with them that Harry would do better if he went to one of the expensive prep schools. The problem of course was that they were expensive.

One of Harry's teachers had suggested that Harry apply for scholarships. And that was what he had done. Remus hoped that the letter contained an acceptance. Harry had liked St. Marks best of all the schools they had applied to. He turned the letter over in his hands.

He heard the lock click open, and turned to see Harry walk in.

"How was school?" he asked.

"School was fine. What's wrong?" Harry asked. He had picked up on Remus's nervousness.

"Nothing is wrong. You received some mail." He handed over the letter.

Harry tensed when he saw where it was from. But he was too impatient to procrastinate. He tore open the envelope and skimmed the letter. "I got it!" he exclaimed. "They're giving me a full scholarship for next year."

Remus congratulated him enthusiastically. Soon they were eating chocolate cake to celebrate. He was very happy but also relieved. In the three weeks since Harry had written the tests at all those muggle schools, he had seriously considered going to the school and changing Harry's scores if they all refused him scholarships. He wanted Harry to have the best of everything. And it was very aggravating to not be able to give him everything he deserved. 'This must be what it's like to be a parent,' he thought.

But he shouldn't have doubted Harry. He had done nothing but study for the tests from the time Remus had suggested applying for scholarships. He was a good boy.

"Uncle Moony, are we really going to change our names?" Harry asked.

"Yes. And you will look different too. It would help to have solid identities in the muggle world. Do you remember who we're going to be?"

"Yes. John and Harry Carter. I'm your son and my mom, Emily Donnovan died when I was born," Harry recited confidently.

"Are you sure you don't mind being called my son?" Remus asked nervously. He was uncomfortable with taking that role. He didn't want to replace James. But pretending to be Harry's father and having Harry change his appearace felt like he was doing exactly that.

But in the muggle world, relatives looking after a child faced much more scrutiny than parents. Then it suddenly hit him, Dumbledore had done something to prevent the muggle authorities from checking up on Harry when he sent him to live with them! It was impossible that any of them would have missed the fact that they were mistreating their nephew, if they had actually gone to check. The old man had a lot to answer for…

"… and I can have a dad, like all the other children," Harry was saying. That brought Remus back to reality. He had never thought of it from Harry's point of view. He was just a child and he wanted to have parents.

"Come here," Remus said, pulling Harry into a hug. "You'll always have me, Harry."

* * *

Harry had started at St. Marks Academy three years ago. He could tell almost immediately that this school was different from his old schools. The teachers at the school he attended with his cousin were indifferent. Even at the school Uncle Moony had sent him to earlier, the teachers were relaxed. They only really paid attention if something unusual or unexpected happened. But this school was not like that.

The teachers always tried to make lessons interesting or memorable. The students were constantly tested. They were reminded that they were at one of the best schools in the country and they were expected to work hard. They were encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities.

Harry had not been keen on it but he now played football and was learning to play the piano. That was the only thing he was really bad at. He was probably tone deaf.

* * *

"Uncle Moony!" Harry exclaimed on the morning after a full moon. He had been researching the Harry Potter situation. He explained the problem hurriedly as Uncle Moony drank his potions.

Harry had not been keen on learning potions at first. But he had soon learnt that potions were incredibly useful. Uncle Moony needed to take potions to get better on the day after the full moon. But he was not good at making them. After four years of practice, Harry now made all the potions they used.

"So what do you think happened?" Uncle Moony asked after he had taken the last potion.

"I'm not sure. But there is no reason to think that You Know Who cast the killing curse at me at all. I mean it doesn't usually leave a mark at all. So saying that I was hit with a killing curse and got a scar instead of dying is absurd. Besides You Know Who killed my mom right? Maybe she cast a spell that killed him at the same time. Then he wouldn't have even tried to kill me."

"What you're saying makes sense. But you don't know what it was like. Voldermort was the most powerful wizard anyone had ever seen. He couldn't be beaten even when he fought against an entire team of aurors. Nobody could touch him. So that's why nobody thinks Lily could have killed him. She was a good fighter, but nowhere near as good as him."

"But the best fighter doesn't always win! And isn't it more impossible that I beat him when I was a baby?"

"I don't know Harry. And a lot of people think he isn't dead. He could come back. So we need to be careful."

Harry nodded. "But if we don't know what happened, how can Dumbledore say that Voldermort is not dead? Or that I will be safe with the muggles? If my mom didn't give me this weird protection when she died, I would be really unsafe with her muggle relatives."

Harry watched his uncle's face pale at that. They had of course talked about this before. Harry had tried to find out more about his mother's supposed protection. He had not found anything resembling it. Uncle Moony had told him to reserve judgement until he had access to the Hogwarts library. But still, he had learnt at school that you shouldn't believe things without proof, and ask questions about everything.

"I don't know what Dumbledore was trying to do!" Uncle Moony said obviously frustrated. Harry knew that he had respected the headmaster. But he had put Harry in the Dursley's house, and wanted him to stay there even though there were people like Uncle Moony who actually wanted him to live with them. Harry would never forgive him for that.

"Harry, if what Dumbledore said about Voldermort being alive is true, and if you really defeated him, you are probably going to have to fight him if he ever comes back. If that is the case, Dumbledore should have had Aurors training you or something from the time you learnt to walk. But he put you in the muggle world, with people who hurt you."

"I don't understand…" Harry said.

"As you said, we don't know what really happened. And Dumbledore's actions don't make sense if he is really telling us everything he knows," Uncle Moony said with a frown. Harry was about to interrupt, when Uncle Moony continued, "So maybe he knows more than he is telling us. And you don't have close relatives in the wizarding world. Maybe Dumbledore was really just trying to give you a normal childhood. He didn't make your relatives hurt you after all."

"You're saying it's not his fault!" Harry asked incredulously.

"Of course it's his fault. He decided where you would live. It was his responsibility to make sure you were treated well there," Uncle Moony replied before Harry could get angry. "So what I'm trying to say is that we don't have all the information."

Harry agreed. He couldn't understand why everyone believed he had survived the killing curse, without any proof, when it was supposed to be impossible. Wizards were crazy, Harry decided.

* * *

Uncle Mooney had been quite shocked when Harry had successfully made Polyjuice potion, even though he was the one who had originally suggested that Harry try making it. Harry smiled as he put the mud like liquid into unbreakable vials. He didn't think making it was difficult. He just had to follow instructions. There was nothing difficult about that. But it had required a lot of work and planning. He had also ruined a batch of it earlier. But nobody needed to know about that. Instead he wondered what Uncle Mooney was going to do with the potion.

Harry looked at Uncle Moony nervously. He was pacing, which usually meant he was worried about something.

"Harry," he called, "Have a seat."

Harry wondered if he had done something. He was almost never in trouble, but Uncle Moony looked especially upset today.

He sat, but didn't speak.

"We need to decide what we're going to do," Uncle Moony said.

"Uh," Harry looked at him confused. About what? Harry didn't know what was going on.

"Sorry. I should start at the beginning. When I took you from your aunt and uncle's home, nobody knew that you weren't there. They just thought you were ill, and couldn't go to school."

Harry nodded. He had even gone back to Little Whining, so that the neighbors could see him and not get suspicious. And Uncle Moony had changed his attendance records at school to make them think he had gone to school for a few weeks every term. Harry thought he had also modified the teachers' memories, but Uncle Moony never talked about that.

"But if we wait till you're eleven, your acceptance letter to Hogwarts will arrive here and we will get caught," Uncle Moony said.

Harry jumped from the couch alarmed. "No we can't! They'll send you to prison. We have to do something!"

"Harry, it's all right." Uncle Moony made him sit back so he could explain. "We're not going to get caught."

He got up and started pacing again. "We can change your name and appearance. But it won't change who you really are. I think Dumbledore has a way to find you."

"But how…," Harry asked confused.

"If he has your blood or hair or something, he could use it to track you down. But I don't know what he has."

Harry looked at Uncle Moony in horror. If Dumbledore had a way to find out where Harry was, he could appear at their house at any moment. "But we have to do something! What if he goes to my aunt and uncle's house and finds out everything? He could send you to the Dementors!"

"No Harry, he isn't going to check on you. He knows your relatives don't treat you well. He will hide at Hogwarts and lie to himself that because they are family, you will be "safe" with them," Uncle Mooney said in a disgusted tone.

"But still. We can't take the risk. If he suspects something is wrong, he could come here!" Harry objected. He couldn't understand how Uncle Moony could be so calm about this.

"I'm sure Dumbledore isn't going to check on you. It would upset his perfect little world. But yes, we need to do something about him being able to find you. And I have a plan," Uncle Moony said.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked. A plan to outsmart Dumbledore! He couldn't wait.

"Well, the first part is quite simple. You will run away from your relatives' house," Uncle Moony said with a mischeivious smile.

"But how will that help us?" Harry asked.

"It will help us, because Dumbledore will be unhappy with the turn of events and try to send you back. But since nobody will have any idea about how to find you, he will be forced to use whatever he has that he can use to find you…"

"And then we can steal it from him!" Harry said.

"That's the plan. But he is Dumbledore, so I'm not sure how we're going to steal something from him."

"He's just one man. And there are two of us. We'll come up with something," Harry said confidently. Uncle Moony had already solved half the problem after all.

And they had come up with something.

* * *

It was two weeks later and Harry was at Kings Cross station. He had blonde hair and brown eyes and looked to be fifteen years old. He was expecting a long wait. Aunt Petunia had only started telling the neighbours this morning that her good for nothing nephew had run away. Uncle Moony was at Privet Drive, waiting to see what Dumbledore would do when he heard the Boy Who Lived had escaped his prison.

Remus was waiting near No. 4 Privet Drive. Harry thought it would take at least a day for Dumbledore to hear that he was missing. Remus had bet it would take less than an hour.

He had heard Petunia tell her neighbors that Harry had run away about an hour ago. He was unhappy about the story she was telling, but Harry had assured him that anything else would be suspicious.

The neighbors were all discussing the Dursley's misfortune with ill-concealed glee. How their good for nothing nephew, who had finally shown his true colors had run away from their home after robbing them.

Remus idly wondered how they could all be so stupid. Harry had barely been seen in the neighbourhood in the last four years. And the Dursley's own son was notorious as the local bully. Well maybe they thought Harry was guilty by association to his cousin.

All thoughts of idiotic neighbors fled his mind as he saw Albus Dumbledore walk out of a house on Magnolia Crescent. He made note of the house. If a witch or wizard working for Dumbledore lived in the area, he wanted to know about it.

Dumbledore walked up to Petunia's front door and rang the doorbell. He had fortunately not suspected that it was Remus who was fiddling with the telephone pole.

Remus fidgeted anxiously as he waited for Dumbledore to finish speaking to Petunia. He couldn't stop himself from worrying that he would find the hidden camera, or even worse, find out that Petunia was under the imperious curse. If he did find out, Remus hoped that Dumbledore wouldn't suspect him.

After a few minutes, Remus saw a flash of blue in the Dursleys' house, and in a few more minutes Petunia came out into the street. Remus rushed to her and took the video casettete from her. Then he walked into the nearest alley and disapparated.

He appeared in a hotel room that he and Harry were using as headquarters for this operation. Harry had helped him with the muggle devices, since he was not very good with them. He played the video as soon as he was in the room. They had no time to waste.

"Petunia, I have heard some worrying news," Dumbledore said. It looked exactly like the movies he had watch with Harry on the telly.

Dumbledore was speaking again. "Do you know where Harry is?"

"How should I know? The ungrateful freak just ran away yesterday night. He stole almost fifty pounds from us too! ..." Petunia was shrieking in her usual manner. He was relieved that she wasn't acting uncharacteristically. But she was under the Imperious curse. Would Dumbledore suspect?

Dumbledore had apparently decided to take the direct approach and use Legilemency on Petunia. Remus hoped that he only saw "Harry" cooking dinner and washing dishes the previous night. Then he had been sent to bed without dinner. The real Harry had told him it was a normal occurance when Harry lived in their house. Except in Petunia's memory, Dudley had been given Polyjuice potion to look like Harry.

"Petunia, I had hoped that you would treat Harry as your own son. But you and your family have driven him to leave the safety of his home. As I explained in my letter, while Harry lives here you and your family is protected from any wizards who wish to harm you," Dumbledore said.

Remus was furious. So that was why they hadn't sent Harry to an orphanage. They knew that their safety depended on Harry living with them, but they still treated Harry so badly!

"But he's gone! You said he lost," Petunia sounded scared now. Remus couldn't understand what she was talking about.

But apparently Dumbledore did. "Yes. But he is not dead. And his supporters could come here looking for Harry," Dumbledore said. "Now I will find Harry and bring him back. Do I have your word that he will have three meals a day from now on?"

"Yes," Petunia replied. That was all? This woman just needed to promise that Harry would not starve in her house, and Dumbledore was satisfied? Maybe he was really senile.

Then Dumbledore pulled out his wand and cast a Patronus. Remus guessed he was sending a message to the Aurors. Then he took a small silver, rectangular object from his robes and clicked it. A blue sphere appeared in front of him and he walked into it and disappeared.

So that was how he was tracking Harry.

Remus apparated to an alley near Kings Cross, hoping that Harry had not been seen yet. He met Harry in a deserted corner near Kings Cross.

"Did it work?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Yes. Dumbledore has a small, silver rectangular thing. He had it in his pocket. Any problems here?" Remus asked speaking quickly. Then he pulled a vial of mud like liquid out of his pocket, added a hair to it and drank. He was going to meet Dumbledore as Elphias Doge.

"No. Haven't seen Dumbledore, but at least he hasn't found me yet," Harry replied. They were already walking back to the station.

"It's been about five minutes since he left Petunia's house. I hope Dumbledore doesn't have something else up his sleeve. Stay nearby but try not to attract attention," Remus said worriedly.

Harry nodded and they started searching. Remus pointed Mad Eye Moody out to Harry, but they didn't reognise any other aurors. A few minutes later they saw Dumbledore walking towards them. They were on a crowded platform, exactly the place they had hoped to have the confrontation. They split up immediately.

Remus approached Dumbledore as Elphias Doge. "Albus! Fancy meting you here," Remus said. "I know you love them," Remus offered him a packet of lemon drops with an indulgent smile. Dumbledore often offered the muggle sweets to visitors to his office.

"I'm sorry, I would rather not," Dumbledore said coldly. Remus didn't know Doge well enough to impersonate him and Dumbledore had known him for a hundred years. He just hoped Harry would have better luck.

"Are you sure? I know they are your favourite sweet," Remus said still pretending to be Doge. Mad Eye Moody was not nearby and Harry had appeared behind Dumbledore and Remus was feeling optimistic about their plan. But in the second before Harry could take the tracking device, Dumbledore turned and caught Harry's arm. Harry tried to kick Dumbledore, but he managed to dodge. Harry suddenly stopped moving. Dumbledore then turned around to face Remus with his wand already drawn, but evading Harry and casting the spell to stun him, had cost him valuable time. Remus stunned him and took the tracking device. He wasted no time in disapparating with Harry. They were gone before Dumbledore's body had hit the ground.

They landed at the muggle hotel. There Remus took the tape out to the vcr and they disapparated again. This time they appeared in a deserted corner of a large shopping centre. Finally Remus unfroze Harry and they walked out of the building. They walked a few minutes to another hotel and took a room.

"That was fun," Harry said, when they were safely in the room.

Remus was casting security spells. When he was done, he sat heavily in the only armchair. "That was nerve wracking. I can't believe we beat Dumbledore."

"Your plan was perfect! We nullified his advantage at magic by meeting him in a place full of muggles, and he hesitated to draw his wand or to do any magic that would attract attention. And you were also right about the Aurors. In a crowded place like that they should have stayed with Dumbledore. Because they split up we had to fight only one of them," Harry said. He was very impressed.

"You're forgetting the biggest advantage we had. They didn't know what we wanted." Remus said.

"I know that not knowing that was bad for them, but how did it help us?" Harry asked after a moment's pause.

Remus smiled. Harry really hated it when he couldn't figure something out. "Dumbledore thought you had run away from home. And Kings Cross station is a transport hub, so it seemed like a logical place for you to go to. So he must have been confused when a fake Elphias Doge appeared to offer him sweets. He correctly guessed that the sweets were an excuse to give him a potion, but he didn't attack me at once. Also if there were Death Eaters around, he expected them to try to kidnap you, not steal from him. And of course being in an area full of muggles he hesitated to use magic.

"And then there are the aurors. They thought they were looking for a child who didn't even have a wand. They expected you to try to run. So they split up to surround you, in spite of how crowded the platform was. None of them would have expected you to be involved in an elaborate plan to steal something from Dumbledore. Not to mention, it's very difficult to walk through a crowd of muggles while you are invisible. So they couldn't use Moody's invisibility cloaks."

Remus put the stolen device on the table and was casting detection spells on it. "This has your blood. Dumbledore has found some way to make it work with the device, so that it creates a portkey to wherever you are," Remus said, when he had finished his investigation.

"So what do we do now?" Harry asked.

"Incendio," Remus said. The silver object promptly burst into flame. Harry jumped in surprise.

"That's what we do. And good riddance," Remus said turning to Harry.

"Yes good riddance," Harry agreed.

* * *

The next day, the muggle newspapers had announced that a young boy had fallen onto the tracks in front of a train and died at Kings Cross station. Some of the tabloids even had a picture. Uncle Moony had told Harry that the Daily Prophet had an even more explicit picture, but had refused to let Harry see it. The Boy Who Lived was dead and the wizarding world was mourning the death of their savior.

Uncle Moony had spent the morning grumbling about sensational news stories and someone called Skeeter. He had also refused to go into the details of how he had staged Harry Potter's death.

Harry suspected that he had given some dying muggle Polyjuice Potion, and the unfortunate soul had died before the effects of the potion wore off. That would explain why the Ministry had believed that they really had his dead body, when he was very much alive.

Uncle Moony had also insisted on doing a Fidelius charm to hide Harry's real identity and the fact that he was a metamorphmagus. Now he was the only person who could reveal that information. Harry was intensely relieved that he wouldn't accidently say something that could get Uncle Moony sent to Azkaban.

* * *

They had gone back to their lives in the muggle world. Harry had obsessively started learning Occlumency. He had felt Dumbledore look into his mind for a brief instant during the fight. He was very worried about what he had given away.

"That was good Harry," Uncle Moony said, bringing him back to reality.

"But what if I make a mistake? If Dumbledore finds out…"

"He won't even bother using Legilimency on you," Uncle Moony said calmly.

Harry knew it was probably true, but he was still worried. He also insisted on practicing harder for what he had given away last time. "I'm sure Dumbledore knows it was me on the platform," Harry said looking down.

"We've talked about this before Harry. It doesn't matter. Dumbledore knew you were somewhere on the platform."

"But he saw me talking to you. He might be suspicious of you. He could send you to prison!" Harry knew working himself up wasn't going to help, but he couldn't stop worrying.

"No Harry, the memory he saw was of the first time I met you. I told him everything we talked about that day. So he won't suspect me because of it."

"You're sure?" Harry asked looking up at Uncle Moony hopefully.

"I'm completely sure," he answered confidently.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and a phoenix patronus appeared. "The Order of the Phoenix will reconvene to help Harry Potter. I hope to see you tomorrow at 8 PM at Hogwarts," it said in Dumbledore's voice.

"Uncle Moony!" Harry looked at him alarmed.

"Don't worry Harry. Everything is OK," Uncle Moony tried to reassure him.

"But …"

"The patronus messages can't be tracked."

Harry relaxed only slightly. "But you can't go? What if it is a trap?"

"I have to go. My best friend's son just died. If I don't they will get suspicious," uncle Moony tried to explain calmly. "Besides I need to find out what Dumbledore means by helping you when you are supposed to be dead."

"Can't you say you're sick?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Harry, I'll be fine. If they suspected me they would have sent the Aurors to arrest me already."

Harry nodded but he was still worried.

A/N: Hiding Harry in plain sight is a huge amount of work! And I had seriously underestimated it. I ended up rewriting this chapter completely, because of the number of problems I found with the original draft. Please let me know if something doesn't make sense, or if I have made any mistakes. Or just let me know what you think of the story.

A reviewer suggested that they should steal Fawkes. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I can't come up with any way to do that. But it's an interesting idea and I'm thinking about it.

Next time: Dumbledore has a (worryingly accurate) theory about Harry Potter's death and Harry returns to the wizarding world in disguise. I will try to post it over the weekend.


	3. Chapter 3: Past is Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay with this chapter, but I had to rewrite it almost completely. I was originally hoping to avoid writing about Harry's life with his relatives, but it had to be mentioned in this chapter. One of my reviewers, Cassandra30, pointed out that Remus actually had some evidence against Dumbledore, and he should make it public. So this chapter is mostly about the fallout from Harry's disappearance.

* * *

The next day had passed in a state of heightened nervousness. Remus was worried but Harry seemed to be even worse. They had talked about the meeting ad nauseum. They had come up with a plan to make Remus appear harmless and useless. That would allow him to have as little interaction with the Order as possible.

Harry gave him a worried smile as he prepared to leave. "Good luck," Harry said.

"See you soon. Don't wait up for me," Remus said smiling back.

He left the house and apparated to Hogsmeade.

Harry was extremely nervous about the meeting with Dumbledore, and had decided to keep himself busy until Uncle Moony was back.

* * *

Remus walked to the headmaster's office alone. He hadn't been told a password, but there were a few other people in the corridor and Minerva gave the password to the gargoyle.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming at such short notice," Dumbledore said as soon as they were in his office.

Remus looked around surreptitiously. Apart from himself and Minerva, he saw Snape, Moody, Doge and surprisingly the old lady who lived near Harry's relatives. He had investigated who Dumbledore's "contact" in Harry's neighborhood was. Apparently an elderly squib was adequate protection for the wizarding child who would be in most danger from Death Eaters.

So Dumbledore hadn't called the whole Order. Remus ignored Dumbledore's pleasantries. Get to the point he thought impatiently.

"We are here because Harry Potter is missing," Dumbledore finally said to shocked gasps. Remus was one of the people who were visibly shocked. Why did they think that Harry wasn't dead?

"What do you mean, he's missing?" Minerva asked.

"We don't know where he is," Moody answered shortly.

"But he's dead!" she said in a confused tone.

"No Harry Potter is not dead. The body that was identified as his is under the influence of Polyjuice Potion. But the Department of Mysteries has finished their investigation today and they have concluded that it is definitely not Harry," Dumbledore said.

Some of the people gathered in his office cheered some had tears in their eyes. Remus couldn't hide the shock he felt. He was sure that the plan was foolproof. How did the Unspeakables know? What else did they know? But more importantly he had to show some relief at hearing that Harry wasn't dead.

The conversation had moved on while Remus considered the implications. "Harry ran away from his aunt and uncle's house five days ago," Dumbledore said to more shocked gasps.

"I told you we couldn't leave him with those people!" Remus exclaimed.

"But why?" Doge asked. Remus wondered if he was asking him or Dumbledore.

"Of course the arrogant brat has to be the center of attention," Snape said. Remus resisted the urge to curse him with great difficulty.

"We will have to ask Harry when we find him," Dumbledore said to Doge, although he seemed to be lacking his usual confidence.

"What has been done so far?" Minerva asked.

"The Aurors are looking for him. But we haven't found anything since he disappeared from Kings Cross," Moody said clearly frustrated.

"Kings Cross?" Doge asked.

Dumbledore recounted the story of what had happened at Kings Cross. "So that was why the Aurors wanted to know what I was doing that day…" Doge said when he had finished.

"I'm sorry Elphias, but we had to check. It was lucky that you were in a meeting at the Department of Education," Dumbledore said. Doge merely nodded.

"So Harry was working with this person?" Minerva asked.

"Not necessarily. Could have been under the Imperius curse," Moody said. Snape snorted derisively.

"Got something to say, have you?" Moody asked him dangerously.

"Potter could have joined forces with his kidnappers if they offered him something he wanted," he said doing his best to appear unperturbed by Moody.

"Could be," Moody agreed, "Not that it would be any use in finding Potter. Since both of them were in disguise, we're trying to find out where they bought the Polyjuice." Moody looked at Snape as if to say he knew who might have sold it to them.

"Severus, please get in touch with your contacts to find out if any of them were involved in the kidnapping or if they have sold Polyjuice potion recently," Dumbledore said. Snape gave a stiff nod.

"Remus, get in touch with James and Lily's friends and find out if any of them might be involved in the kidnapping or have been approached for information," Dumbledore continued with his instructions. Remus agreed. But Dumbledore's gaze rested on him a moment longer.

"Albus, how did the kidnappers know about the Deluminator?" Doge asked. This was what Remus was really interested in. What did Dumbledore think had happened.

* * *

Harry was pacing when Remus returned home.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked, as soon as he entered the house.

"Yes, I'm fine. They don't suspect us. Sorry I'm late. I had to make sure I wasn't followed," Remus said. He then explained what was discussed in the meeting.

"What do they want you to do?" Harry asked still worried.

"Just ask James and Lily's old friends about you. Dumbledore thinks it could be one of them," Remus finally burst out laughing.

"Well he is right about that," Harry said with a frown. It was quite ironic but he was too nervous to laugh. He started pacing again. "Do you think they suspect you? You are one of my parents' old friends. Maybe they're just waiting to catch you off guard?"

"I don't think so. If they thought I knew something, they would have forced Veritaserum down my throat and asked what I've done with you," Remus said dismissively. He sat down on the couch and motioned Harry to sit beside him.

"But…"

"No Harry. We can't keep worrying all the time. You need to relax. Everything is fine. Oh and they think I'm a drunk too," he said smiling when Harry made a face.

"I'm sorry about that," Harry said looking down apologetically.

"It was my idea originally. You just made it more believable," Remus replied shrugging.

He had planned to go to the meeting smelling of Firewhiskey, so that the Order thought he was a drunk. But it would be extremely rude and out of character for Remus Lupin to turn up actually drunk for a meeting, not to mention he needed to be thinking clearly. So he had described what he needed and Harry knew exactly which poison would produce all the symptoms.

Remus had taken a mild poison that would make his eyes bloodshot and cause a tremor in his hands. Coupled with his deliberately lethargic movements and apathetic attitude, everyone had believed that he was an alcoholic, making a desperate attempt at sobriety.

"Did someone say something?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore advised me to leave the past in the past and stuff, and do something with my life…" Remus said uninterestedly.

"He thinks you're depressed and maybe addicted to alcohol and tells you to get over it!" Harry said shocked. Remus tried not to laugh. The muggles would have sent him to some mind doctor. And Harry seemed to agree with them. As if talking would help, when everyone he cared about was dead, or as as good as dead. He moved on to another topic before he spent too long thinking about the traitor.

"Still, our plan worked. Dumbledore thinks I'm a drunk, so he won't consider me a threat. And I think it also got me out of doing any actual work for his Order."

"But you still need to talk to your friends, and probably make them think you're a drunk too!" Harry was not happy about that particular deception. He didn't want Remus to be known as an alcoholic.

"I don't care. They're not really my friends anyway. Your parents were popular at school and they had a lot of friends but not one of these friends would help me if they knew," Remus replied with a careless shrug.

Harry still looked upset about the whole situation. So he said, "Better to be known as an alcoholic than a werewolf." Harry looked like he wanted to object, but he didn't give him a chance. "I don't care, Harry."

Harry would never understand. He had stopped caring about what people would think a long time ago. It was a direct result of being a werewolf. "If you don't mind," Harry finally reluctantly agreed.

"I already Floo called most of them from the Hog's Head," Remus said with an amused smile. "Most of them didn't even realize that I was pretending to be an alcoholic."

"But the more interesting thing is that Dumbledore told the Order that he had a device that could be used to track you," Remus continued.

"Why?" Harry asked confused.

"Because it is illegal to track people like that and also to take someone's blood without their consent."

* * *

"But he can just say my parents gave consent. They can't argue with him, they're dead," Harry said. He understood what Uncle Moony was implying. If he didn't have permission to take Harry's blood, he had admitted to a crime.

"No Harry, I think he has gotten himself declared your guardian in the wizarding world. I don't think he would have risked telling us that otherwise," Uncle Moony said in an irritated tone.

That was scary, Harry thought. What would have happened to him if Uncle Moony hadn't rescued him and he was left to the mercy of Dumbledore and his relatives?

"Anyway don't worry about it. He has no idea where to find you. And Moody is pretty upset because he lost to us," Uncle Moony said with a wide smile.

Harry thought he was missing something.

"Moody was James and Sirius's instructor when they joined to become Aurors," Uncle Moony explained. Of course, Harry thought. Uncle Moony couldn't join the Aurors with his friends because of the stupid anti-werewolf rules. So he was justified in gloating after he had beaten the highly respected Head Auror.

* * *

Dumbledore had told the Order that Harry's relatives were under the Imperius curse. This had not been made public, although the Minister for Magic had insisted that they inform the public that Harry Potter was indeed alive.

Remus thought Dumbledore was being very irresponsible in revealing that Harry's relatives were under the Imperius curse. But the reason was obvious. Everyone was sure that only Death Eaters would use an unforgivable curse to kidnap Harry. So they had dropped the investigations into Harry's parents friends. It also meant that nobody in the Order of the Phoenix were suspects anymore.

Remus would have felt relieved if he wasn't so worried that Harry would find out about him using the Imperius curse.

Dumbledore was explaining the details of what they had found to the Order. "I was able to determine that Harry's relatives had been obligated on multiple occasions over many months and I suspect they might have been under the Imperius curse," Dumbledore said.

Several members of the Order gasped. If Harry had been with Death Eaters for that long who knew what they were doing to him? For all they knew Harry had been turned into a Death Eater sympathiser.

"We don't know who kidnapped Harry and the person who oblivated his relatives was careful to stay disillusioned. The Aurors are speaking to all of Harry's neighbors and teachers. They are also investigating some wizards suspected of supporting the Death Eaters. But they don't believe we can conclude Harry's relatives were under the Imperius"

"Are we sure Potter is alive? Nobody has seen him recently," Mad Eye Moody asked

"Yes. We are sure Harry is alive. He still retains his inheritance at Gringotts," Dumbledore said. If Harry was dead, it would have been passed on to his heir. But who was the heir? Remus wondered. And shouldn't they be investigating that person?

As far as he knew, Harry had no close relatives in the wizarding world. James had an uncle, who had married a Black, but they had no surviving children. The heir could be almost anyone. He would have to look up the Potter family tree and find out if Harry had any great aunts or uncles with surviving descendants.

"How did you convince the goblins to tell you that?" Minerva asked sounding both impressed and confused. "I am Harry's guardian in the wizarding world," Dumbledore said.

He had already suspected it. But having it confirmed was still a blow. As Harry's magical guardian Dumbledore would have the ability to make decisions on his behalf. He needed to do something about it.

Since the Aurors were investigating Harry's kidnapping, Remus worried that they would send him to Azkaban and Harry would have to go back to his relatives. Even if he was sent to prison, Remus was determined that Dumbledore and the Dursleys would not be able to control Harry.

He would need to do something about it. But he couldn't think of any other way than to make Dumbledore's dealings with Harry public. But first he needed to know how Dumbledore had discovered that the Dursleys were under the Imperius curse.

"Are the Aurors investigating the use of an unforgivable curse on Harry's relatives?" Minerva asked again. She sounded horrified and outraged.

"The Aurors don't think there is enough evidence to conclude that the muggles were under the Imperius curse," Moody said to looks of confusion from the others.

"They had been oblivated several times over a couple of years. And although I was able to determine that someone had used the Imperius curse on them, the Ministry doesn't believe that alone is sufficient evidence," Dumbledore explained.

Remus fought to hide the relief he felt. The Ministry had much more power and resources. If they didn't want to investigate who had cast the Imperius curse on Harry's relatives, he was less likely to get caught.

Another interesting fact was that Dumbledore didn't care much about Harry's relatives. After how much he had modified their memories, if Dumbledore had still uncovered the use of the Imperious curse, he had seriously damaged their minds. But he supposed that he should have known that Dumbledore was ruthless when he believed he was doing the right thing. He had sent Remus to insinuate himself into the werewolf packs knowing the reception he would get. And if Snape was really on their side, he had put him in even greater danger. He gave the surly man a surreptitious glance. No wonder he hated everyone and everything.

"Do you have any idea who it could be Albus?" Doge asked.

"None whatsoever. The person who cast the curse was always careful to not be seen."

"What are we going to do? We have to find Harry," Remus said. He needed to be involved with the search or it would look suspicious. It was also the best way to keep track of the investigation.

It was Moody who answered, "We're investigating any wizards who might have visited the general area Potter's relatives lived in. We're also trying to find out how they knew where to look, since nobody knew who the boy lived with. His aunt said he stole muggle money from them and ran away. We're looking into that. He could have had the bad luck to run into a Death Eater in London."

"But why would he run away?" Doge asked, clearly confused.

"Because his relatives were starving him. Maybe they threw him out and got worried when the wizards came knocking at their door. This is all your fault!" Remus said turning to Dumbledore. Minerva and Moody stopped him before he could lunge at the old man.

He didn't have to fake his anger and outrage. He knew that Dumbledore had intentionally left Harry in that house, after being told he was being abused.

"Remus, Petunia would not turn her nephew out of her house. I am sure of it. And Harry didn't run away from home. He has not lived with his family for more than a year. The most important thing is to find him, before he comes to any harm. We must put our differences aside to..." Dumbledore was saying in him infuriatingly calm voice.

"How dare you!" Remus was furious. It was taking all of Moody and Minerva's strength to hold him back now. "How dare you tell us to listen to you now after you put Harry with those disgusting people. If Harry had been with someone who cared about him, he wouldn't have run away from home or been missing for months before we found out about it! This is all your fault!" he was nearly screaming.

He really wanted to rip Dumbledore limb from limb. Even though Harry was safe, he was angry with the situation. The muggles had hurt him in the five years he lived with them. And now, he was forced to live with a werewolf, and do house elves work when he was the heir to one of the richest wizarding families in the country. Because of the mess Dumbledore had created, there was a possibility that Harry would never be able to claim his inheritance.

He then recounted his chance meeting with Harry, and Dumbledore's reaction to what he had found out. The Order meeting had devolved into a shouting match from there. Dumbledore alone had kept his composure. But Remus hoped that he had at least made a dent in Dumbledore's formidable reputation.

* * *

He had spent the next few days convincing Harry that the wizarding world needed to hear how his muggle relatives had treated him. Harry tended to ignore what had happened, or even pretend that it was not real. For someone who thought mind doctors actually served a purpose, it was quite hypocritical.

The thing that had convinced him in the end was not that Dumbledore might misuse his inheritance, but that Remus had admitted to knowing where Harry lived. Harry wanted to divert attention from him and had agreed that discrediting Dumbledore was a good way to shift everyone's attention off Remus.

But Harry didn't want to give an actual interview. Nor did Remus want him to meet a witch or wizard as Harry Potter. So they had come up with an interesting idea. Harry would write a diary.

* * *

In the next few weeks, while the rumors of Harry Potter's disappearance spread across the wizarding world like Fiendfyre, he wrote a Diary of his life with the Dursleys for the year before his supposed kidnapping.

Remus had only managed to read a few pages, on the day Harry had given him the finished diary. He couldn't believe a child had come up up with some of the horrible things the Dursleys supposedly had done. But it also had some stories which he knew to be true and had happened when Harry was younger.

When he had commented on Harry's imagination, Harry had shocked him by saying that none of the stories were made up. Everything in the Diary was real. It had just happened when Harry was younger. Remus couldn't bring himself to read the rest of it after that.

He had wrapped up the vile book in brown paper and sent it to the Daily Prophet with a letter worthy of a Death Eater. The letter had been written by a muggle whom he had paid for the job and promptly oblivated when it was done. Couldn't have them identifying his handwriting.

* * *

Someone from the Daily Prophet had contacted him to ask about his meeting with Harry after the diary had been sent. He had repeated the story he had told Dumbledore.

The next day, the Daily Prophet had published the letter on the front page. It contained the usual Pureblood rubbish about caring for magical children, and how muggles were no better than animals. It explained that the muggles had starved Harry and tried to work him to death, and the people who currently had him, had rescued him so that he didn't have to live with that filth.

They also claimed that Harry was happy with them and didn't want anything to do with the people who had condemned him to that life, and would not be returning to the wider wizarding world. And the letter specifically mentioned that Albus Dumbledore had put Harry with the muggles who had mistreated him so badly.

The Prophet then gleefully announced that they had the diary Harry had written in his last year with his relatives, and concerned members of the public could owl order a copy. The newspaper had also published excerpts, but they were not on the front page because they weren't suitable for the eyes of children.

Remus was in no mood to read about Harry's life with his relatives again. He had literally become sick the first time he had read about his little cub being locked in a cupboard under the stairs for two days without food.

But he needed to know what stories the public had access to right now and he looked over the excerpts. The first one was indeed the story that had made him sick. The next one was fairly benign in comparison. It was about Harry being sent to a neighbour so that his cousin would have a "Harry-free" birthday. The next story was about Harry being beaten for doing better than his cousin at the muggle school, and sent to his cupboard without dinner, which Harry himself had cooked.

Remus abruptly threw the paper into the fire. He couldn't imagine how anyone could be so evil. How anyone could do all that to a child. But as bad as the excerpts in the Daily Prophet were, they couldn't compare to how bad the diary really was. It wasn't just that the Dursleys beat Harry or were unfair to him. They starved him everyday. They never allowed him to eat any food they considered good, never allowed him to do anything he might enjoy, didn't even allow him to have friends. They systematically dehumanised him, told him that he was unwanted and a burden and made sure that his life was as hopeless and depressing as possible.

He understood why Harry had been resistant to talking about his life with those people. He also felt sick at the thought of Harry having to relive all of that because he had insisted on it.

* * *

Harry was filling vials of Pain Relief Potions. He was keeping himself busy so he didn't have to think about the wizarding world's latest bestseller. He couldn't understand why so many people wanted to read about his life with his horrible relatives. It was the single most depressing story he knew.

The bluish green liquid in his cauldron was a slightly modified version of the standard pain relief potion. He had initially been trying to replace some of the more expensive ingredients in it. The initial modifications had made the potion more volatile and less effective. But after a number of ruined batches, he had finally found the magic ingredient, which surprisingly turned out to be cucumbers. Now the potion cost a fraction of the original's price, which was a great help. They were not rich Purebloods after all.

He heard a sizzling sound and abruptly turned around. Dark green steam was rising from a cauldron. He wasted no time in vanishing the potion. He had been trying to make Wolfsbane Potion, and he felt certain it was about to explode.

Harry was nervous about leaving for Hogwarts. If he got a letter that is. Uncle Moony wasn't sure if he would. Uncle Moony had explained that the magic of Hogwarts that created the letters would send them to all eleven year old magical children. The addresses depended on what the children believed their address was. If a child thought they lived in the green room of a manor, that was what the quill wrote. If another child believed they lived in the sunniest room in their house, the address would reflect it.

So Uncle Moony had argued, that since Harry believed that his name was now Harry Carter, that was how his letter would be addressed. At least they wouldn't be getting any mail for Harry Potter. The Fidellius charm would not allow it.

Harry sighed as he started chopping ingredients again to start the Wolfsbane Potion from scratch. He had really hoped he could finish a batch of it before he left for school. Uncle Moony would be alone then with no one to look after him on the days after the full moon. He had reassured Harry that he would be fine. But Harry knew how difficult the transformations were.

Harry started brewing the potion again, looking at his notes for the next set of instructions he had written. 'Why couldn't the Ministry just publish the recipe?' he wondered. It would mean fewer werewolf attacks. But no, the Ministry had to keep the recipe a secret, with only licensed potioneers having access to it.

He was annoyed at having to guess at the exact quantities of ingredients and details of the method from the vague instructions Belby had written in the article in the Practical Potioneer. But at least it was distracting him from the Diary he had written.

* * *

"Harry? Are you at home?" Uncle Moony asked.

"Yes I'm here," Harry called from the kitchen, where they brewed their potions. Or rather, where Harry brewed potions. Uncle Moony could only make the most basic potions, and he hated brewing and avoided even that.

"There's a hearing at the Wizengamot tomorrow," he said. Harry knew it was about how Dumbledore had dealt with Harry's upbringing. Harry hoped he would suffer some consequences for his actions, but he had no interest to see the matter litigated. He wanted to pretend it was about someone else.

"Do you want to attend the hearing?" Uncle Moony asked. "You don't have to," he added hastily, seeing Harry's shock and alarm.

"Do you really want to go?" Harry asked. He knew that the Wizengamot wanted Uncle Moony to talk about his meeting with Harry when Harry was six.

"I want to see Dumbledore pay for everything he has done," Uncle Moony said. Harry supposed he could understand. But he didn't want revenge. He just wanted to forget. If Dumbledore or the Wizengamot would oblivate the five years he spent with the Dursleys from his mind, he would call them even.

But Uncle Moony would never agree to it. Harry knew something about memory modification and oblivation, considering how much of it had been used on his relatives and he knew that erasing five years from a ten year old's memories was likely to seriously damage their mind. Not to mention, he would probably not be able to read or cook. So he had said nothing to Uncle Moony about it.

They hadn't discussed it anymore after that. Uncle Moony seemed to be willing to let him do what he wanted and Harry had gone back to ignoring the hearing for the rest of the day.

* * *

Remus knew that Harry was still upset about the diary. It had dredged up a lot of painful memories for him. He also knew that it had put some distance between them. He just hoped that Harry didn't hate him for asking him to write the accursed diary.

After all the trouble he had caused, he really hoped that Dumbledore was brought down a few pegs for what he had done. The Wizengamot was meeting in a large courtroom. Almost every member was in attendance. Amelia Bones was presenting her case. He had been relieved that she was the Ministry representative. She had a reputation for being a thorough and well prepared prosecutor. She had done a very good job in presenting the evidence before calling her witnesses.

Harry, it seemed had no close relatives in the wizarding world, and so had been sent to his muggle aunt. It was intended to protect him from the Death Eaters, who were still active and were sure to target Harry. This decision was made by Albus Dumbledore, who had managed to get himself appointed Harry's guardian, by claiming that he was qualified by virtue of being Chief Warlock and Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Harry was then never visited by anyone from either the muggle or wizarding government. She was obviously insinuating that his relatives could have thrown him out or sent him to a muggle orphanage and no one would know. Remus doubted that Dumbledore would show his hand by saying he had a squib living in the area, since it wouldn't help his case.

Then she mentioned that Remus Lupin had met Harry when he was six. He was called to testify.

"Did you meet Harry Potter, Mr. Lupin?" she asked.

"Yes I met him at No. 4 Privet Drive, in Surrey when he was six." Remus had deliberately given away Harry's relatives' address. He was sure that some wizards were very keen to meet them.

"Did you talk to him?" she asked.

"Yes, I told him how he looked exactly like his father and had his mother's eyes. He was surprised. He didn't know how his parents looked or that magic was real. But he was injured so I healed him, and told him that he was a wizard. He also told me that his relatives made him do all of the cooking and gardening, and punished him if he did something wrong," Remus said.

"And he was only six?" Madam Bones asked.

"Yes," Remus answered.

"Did you believe him?" she asked.

"Of course," Remus replied. How could she imply that Harry was lying?

"Did you see any proof of what he told you?" she asked.

Amelia Bones was doing a very thorough job, Remus thought. "Yes. Harry had a serious burn on his right arm, which he told me he got while cooking that morning, and he had a bruise below his eye where his uncle had hit him for burning their bacon. And he was weeding the garden when I met him." That would not allow Dumbledore to dismissively say that all children complain about chores, as he had told Remus.

"Are you telling the Wizengamot that Harry Potter's relatives had either not seen or not cared about a burn on his arm when they sent him to work in their garden?"

"Harry told me that they knew he had been burned, but didn't care," Remus said. The members of the Wizengamot broke into hushed whispers at that. He suspected that Madam Bones wanted to prosecute Harry's relatives, and the Wizengamot would most likely find them guilty.

"What did you do after that?"

"I informed Albus Dumbledore about my conversation with Harry."

"And why did you go to Dumbledore? Why not the Auror office?"

"Because Dumbledore is the Chief Warlock and he had decided to send Harry to his relatives," Remus replied. And as a werewolf he knew it was best to stay a safe distance away from the Aurors.

"How do you know he sent Mr. Potter to live with his relatives?"

"He told me himself, after Lily and James died. He refused to tell me where they lived because it could put them in danger."

"How did Dumbledore react to hearing about your meeting with Mr. Potter?" Madam Bones asked.

"He said children always complain about chores. But he would look into it."

"What happened after that?" Madam Bones asked.

"I spoke to Dumbledore a few days later. He said that he had spoken to Harry's relatives, and everything was all right." Remus sounded uncomfortable. It was because he was lying. But if it were the truth, he would be uncomfortable revealing that he had shown such bad judgement. He hoped the Wizengamot thought it was the latter.

"And you believed him!" Madam Bones asked incredulously.

"He's Dumbledore," Remus said helplessly. "I thought he knew what he was doing. But I was wrong and I desperately wish I had done something to help Harry," Remus said in a pained voice.

Madam Bones nodded her satisfaction with his testimony, but her eyes condemned him for his role in Harry's mistreatment and disappearance. He left the chair in the middle of the room and went back to the stands as quickly as he could.

* * *

The next person to occupy the chair was the Editor of the Daily Prophet. He was asked about the diary, but couldn't tell them anything more that what was already known. The newspaper had no idea who had sent it, but believed it to be authentic.

Then Madam Bones called Dumbledore.

A hushed silence filled the hall, as he took the chair. "Chief Warlock Dumbledore, did you send Harry Potter to live with muggles on the night his parents died?" Madam Bones asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore simply said. Remus was shocked at how different he looked in the few months since their shouting match. Dumbledore had always been old. But he usually looked enthusiastic and full of life. Now he looked tired and world weary.

"Why did you send him to live with muggles, when he would likely be a target for members of the group known as the Death Eaters?"

"I believed that when Lily died to protect her son, she gave him powerful protection that would keep him safe as long as he lived with her blood," Dumbledore said.

"But all of Lily Potter's known blood relatives were muggles," Madam Bones pointed out.

"Her relatives didn't need to have magic. They only needed to agree to raise Harry." At that the room erupted in urgent discussion that sounded like a swarm of angry bees.

"I believe that Harry Potter is your ward. How often did you visit him?" Madam Bones asked.

"I did not visit him," Dumbledore answered.

"What did you do to ensure that he was safe and well cared for at his muggle relatives house?" she asked.

"I explained to his relatives that he was their nephew and asked that they raise him as their own," he said.

"So you never visited him and didn't know how the muggles were treating him, how did you even know that he was alive or living with them? For all we know they could have killed him themselves!" Madam Bones was clearly outraged by Dumbledore's negligence.

"I assure you Harry Potter is still alive," Dumbledore said.

"And why are you so confident of that?" Madam Bones asked, still angry.

"I would be happy to provide that information to the DMLE, but I feel it would not be in Harry's best interests to reveal it in such a public setting," he said.

Madam Bones looked like she wanted to argue, but she conceded the point. "So, you had no contact with your ward in almost ten years, during which time he was abused by the people you left him with, and eventually disappeared from their home. Can you honestly say that you have acted in Harry Potter's best interests?" Madam Bones asked.

Remus thought she had him. He disliked Ministry officials on principle. But he would have to make an exception for Madam Bones.

"I was only trying to keep Harry safe," Dumbledore said.

"Did you know that the muggles have a government department that sends representatives to visit children who have been adopted?" Madam Bones asked viciously. She seemed to have an axe to grind with the old man.

"I believed Harry would be safer if as few people as possible knew where he lived," Dumbledore replied. There was another outbreak of whispering at this.

"So you admit that you left Mr. Potter defenceless with complete strangers on purpose!" Madam Bones said incredulously. "Do you know what the job of those people is? Did you know that they are supposed to prevent exactly what happened to Harry?" Madam Bones had actually taken a few steps in Dumbledore's direction, as if she was going to attack him.

"Madam Bones, I will forever regret my decisions that led to Harry's suffering at the hands of his relatives," Dumbledore said.

Remus had to say that Dumbledore had done a very good job of keeping his composure. He seemed to have accepted that he would lose guardianship of Harry no matter what he did.

Madam Bones addressed the Wizengamot, "I propose that the Wizengamot strip Albus Dumbledore of his position as Mr. Potter's guardian effective immediately."

Almost everyone raised their wands to agree with Madam Bones, and Dumbledore was no longer Harry's guardian. Remus breathed a sigh of relief.

"Chief Warlock Dumbledore, I wish you were being tried in a muggle court. You would never be allowed to escape punishment for your role in Mr. Potter's mistreatment. But since child endangerment and negligence are not crimes according to our laws, you will not be liable for criminal charges in this matter," Amelia Bones bit out angrily.

* * *

The next order of business was appointing a new guardian for Harry Potter. The Wizengamot had appointed a committee, consisting of Madam Marchbanks, Madam Bones and Mr. Parkinson. They were going to spearhead the efforts to find Harry.

Remus didn't know how to feel about that, but now that the initial investigation into Harry's disappearance had been completed and Dumbledore had been blamed for the fiasco, he felt a little better.

Remus had hoped that the wizarding world would be angry enough to demand Dumbledore's resignation from his position as Chief Warlock and Headmaster of Hogwarts. But that had been too much to hope for.

As he was walking out of the room where the hearing had been held, he overheard Greengrass talking to Avery.

"Any hope of getting the old goat out of the Wizengamot?" Avery asked.

"Malfoy is trying to get his ducks in a line. But its not going to be easy. Dumbledore's faction might think he was a bad guardian for the Potter boy, but they still think his heart's in the right place, and they're sure he's going to find the kid again," Greengrass replied.

"You'd think he would have used whatever he had up his sleeve by now," Avery asked.

"You would. But he has half the Wizengamot convinced that the Potter boy has been kidnapped two years ago, and his relatives were under the Imperius curse. They're scared, and they don't know what to do without him," Greengrass said disdainfully. "They also think he knows something about how the Dark Lord lost to the kid," he added in a conspiratorial tone.

"You think he knows what happened, when..." Avery sounded worried.

"How am I supposed to know?" Greengrass replied, slightly irritated.

"Bones did a good job in there," Avery said changing the subject.

"Of course. You know she blames the old man for her brother's death," Greengrass said with a shrug.

"Because he was in that group he started…." Avery was saying, but they had walked into the elevator, and he stopped speaking. Remus merely walked in after them, trying not to react to what he had heard.

Madam Bones blamed Dumbledore for Edgar's death? He had never heard that one before. But he supposed it was possible. He was in the Order and Death Eaters had killed him. He would have to think about this.

* * *

Harry was quite surprised to actually receive a letter inviting him to Hogwarts, accompanied by an enthusiastic Professor Sprout.

He had played the role of the excited muggleborn and asked lots of questions. It wasn't difficult as he had never been to Diagon Alley before. Everything had seemed to be going so well, until he had met Draco Malfoy in the shop that sold robes.

Uncle Moony had mentioned that Lucius Malfoy had been a supporter of Voldermort and had escaped imprisonment by bribery and claiming that he had been under the Imperius curse. Harry couldn't resist baiting him, when he introduced himself.

He had deliberately told him that he was a muggleborn. And Malfoy had immediately refused to speak to him, and also complained to the shop assistant helping him that he didn't want to breathe the same air as a "mudblood". Harry tried not to laugh about something as absurd as "dirty blood", everyone had the same blood after all. The wizarding world needed to work on their insults.

The next hiccup had been Ollivander's shop. Harry felt like he had tried a hundred wands, before Mr. Ollivander gave him a wand saying, "Holly with a phoenix feather core, eleven inches, nice and supple." He looked on expectantly as Harry gave it a wave, but nothing happened. He seemed disappointed as he took it back, and Harry tried even more wands.

Just when Harry was starting to think that he wasn't going to find a wand, Mr. Ollivander had given him a walnut and phoenix feather creation. He seemed satisfied after the wand produced a fountain of white sparks.

Harry took it and put it in his sleeve and Mr. Ollivander gave him an approving nod. He paid seven galleons and left the shop relieved. He had the suspicion that Mr. Ollivander knew that he was in disguise. He was very relieved that he hadn't voiced any suspicions to Professor Sprout.

They soon returned home, where Harry was very keen to try spells with his own wand.

* * *

A/N: I'm not happy with this chapter, but I don't think I can improve it further at this point, so I'm posting it as it is. If anyone has any suggestions, do let me know. The next chapter is mostly written too, so it should be up by Sunday at the latest.

Next time: Harry goes to Hogwarts! But of course things will be different from the books. Which house do you think Harry will be in? Who will his friends be? How different will his life be as not "Harry Potter"?


	4. Chapter 4: Black as his name?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: First of all thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed or favourited this story. And I would like to say that I like to hear everyone's opinions, especially if they are different from my own.

On that note, I would like to thank my reviewer Cassandra30, who made some really good points about how Remus could deal with Dumbledore in the aftermath of Harry's disappearance, and I incorporated some of her suggestions in the story because they improve the story. So no apologies necessary. As far as rewriting the previous chapter is concerned, I have already rewritten the first two chapters in this story at least twice before I started posting, and I think it was absolutely necessary to write a good story.

* * *

Harry and Uncle Moony were going through their plans to hide in plain sight one last time. Harry was wearing his usual disguise of blonde hair and blue eyes. The biggest advantage of being a metamorphmagus he thought was that he could fix his eyesight without going to an optician. He was supposed to look as unremarkable as possible and his scar needed to be hidden. But his abilities had not been any help with that. After a lot of trial and error, Harry had come up with a brilliant solution. He had used muggle make up on it, and allowed his hair to fall into his eyes for good measure. It had worked very well for the last four years and Harry was sure it would work at Hogwarts too.

After his appearance, they had gone over his family history again. Uncle Moony had told him that the wizards were obsessed with family and blood. They had decided to keep it simple. Harry was muggleborn, which meant he shouldn't be asked too many questions about his family. His mother had died about the same time he was born, so he had never known her. His father was an orphan, who never knew anything about his family.

Uncle Moony thought this story would cause the least amount of trouble in the long term. But irrespective of what they said, it was unlikely that Harry's supposedly muggle father would ever have anything to do with the wizarding world. Harry had also wanted to be able to finish his education in the muggle world. He believed it would allow him more options. Uncle Moony who worked exclusively in the muggle world now had agreed but they hadn't finalised those plans.

They had considered whether Harry should pretend to be an average student, so that he attracted less attention. "If you don't do better than the superior purebloods, they'll look down on you, and think you're an easy target. Not to mention they will take every opportunity to attack you," Uncle Moony pointed out again. Harry was relieved to know that he wouldn't have to do badly on tests on purpose. He had had enough of that at the Dursleys.

And he had first hand experience with the unpleasant purebloods. So he had not been very surprised to hear that students who supported Voldermort sometimes attacked muggleborns at the school. They were going to get an unpleasant surprise if they tried anything against him.

"And there are at least five Death Eater's children in your year. Not to mention an actual Death Eater at the school," Uncle Moony repeated.

Harry didn't comment. He had asked Uncle Moony how a former criminal had been hired as a teacher at a school. In the muggle world, even if everything Snape claimed was true, he wouldn't be hired as a teacher. But it seemed that Albus Dumbledore could wave his wand and make all reasonable arguments disappear. He had told everyone that he trusted Snape, and he had magically transformed from a criminal to a teacher.

* * *

Harry had woken up on the first of September both nervous and excited. Uncle Moony had tried to reassure him about everything, and assured him that he wouldn't even have time to miss anyone before he was back for Christmas. Harry doubted that, but he appreciated the sentiment. He had gone through his trunk one last time and then they were ready to leave.

Kings Cross station was crowded as ever and both Harry and Uncle Moony were struggling to hide their smiles, because they had stolen Dumbledore's tracking device from him there.

But the mood turned serious as they crossed through the barrier and the Hogwarts Express was in front of them. Harry had tears in his eyes as he hugged Uncle Moony for the last time before getting on the train. Since he had rescued Harry from the muggles, Harry had never spent more than a day away from him. Uncle Moony had done so much for him, that he could never repay it. But he would do everything possible to make him proud. There were no words to explain what they were feeling, so Harry got on the train in silence.

* * *

Harry was sitting in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Uncle Moony had told him to make friends. He had no trouble in muggle schools, so he was optimistic.

A red haired boy walked into the compartment and asked if he could sit there. It seemed the boy was avoiding his friend's spider. Harry was quite confused about why anyone would be carrying a dangerous spider to school, but merely listened to the story.

"Harry Potter is going to start at Hogwarts this year!" the red haired boy said suddenly.

Harry jumped. "What?" he asked. There had been no news about him in the newspapers. Uncle Moony was confused by that. Because they had to know that Harry Potter hadn't been found and wasn't going to Hogwarts.

"Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived!" the boy said looking at Harry as if he was stupid. When Harry didn't reply, he asked, "You want to go look for him?"

"No," Harry answered shortly. He picked his book back up and started reading again. He made an irritated sound and went out of the compartment.

Harry wondered if all wizards were obsessed with Harry Potter when three more of them came looking in his compartment. He at least managed to avoid another confrontation with Malfoy.

* * *

A few hours later, Harry was disturbed by a worried looking boy who had lost a toad.

"Did you try summoning it?" Harry asked.

"I can't!" the boy wailed. "I'm terrible at magic. My family thought I was a muggle for a long time…" he trailed off.

"You have to be able to do magic right, if you're going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked. He had never thought about it, but if there were muggleborn witches and wizards, there must be muggles born to magical parents.

The boy who introduced himself as Neville Longbottom merely nodded.

Harry pulled out his wand and said, "Accio Neville's toad." For a few seconds Harry thought nothing had happened. But then he was hit in the chest by a flying toad.

"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed. He thanked Harry profusely, before saying, "I need to tell Hermione. She was helping me look." He walked out and Harry cast a quick Scourjify at his clothes.

* * *

Harry watched the sorting nervously. He wondered what happened when the hat was put on a student's head. Uncle Moony had told him that a hat did the sorting, but he hadn't mentioned that it could read minds. That could be a major problem.

He watched two girls get sorted into Hufflepuff and wondered what would happen when the hat was on his head.

Finally the Professor called out Carter, Harry. He sat with the hat on his head and knew at once that it could read his mind. And his occlumency was not working. _I don't reveal the secrets I learn from students minds_ , it told him reassuringly. Harry really hoped it was true.

 _You could be great in Slytherin,_ the hat was trying to convince him. Harry understood why the hat thought he should be in that house. Considering that he was hiding his identity, it was a surprise that it hadn't already put him there. But, I'm claiming to be muggleborn, Harry objected. How long do you think I'll stay in this school if you put me with those crazy people?

 _Where should I put you then?_ It asked.

What about Hufflepuff? Harry thought.

 _Hufflepuff!,_ the hat was amused.

Why can't I be in Hufflepuff? Do you think I'm less hardworking or loyal than those two girls you sorted there?

 _Helga would have loved to have you in her house,_ the hat said after a pause. _You will be good for HUFFLEPUFF!_ The last word announced to the whole Hall, where Harry had been sorted.

Harry pulled off the hat with relief. He had heard about the houses from Uncle Moony, and decided that the best place to be sorted was undoubtedly with the friendly and loyal witches and wizards of Hufflepuff. Griffindor and Slytherin would attract too much attention and he didn't think he would be able to get into Ravenclaw.

He was enthusiastically welcomed by his new house. There he was introduced to Susan and Hannah, who had been sorted before him, and they watched together as Neville Longbottom was sorted into Griffindor. Harry was surprised to say the least.

"I thought he would be in Hufflepuff too," Harry said to his new friends. Although maybe the boy wasn't hardworking? Who knew?

"You know him?" Susan asked curiously. Harry was supposed to be a muggleborn and Neville a pureblood. They had literally lived in different worlds.

"I met him on the train," Harry explained. "He didn't seem like the type to be the knight in shining armor and save the damsel in distress."

"You only met him today," a muggleborn boy pointed out.

"I guess," Harry said.

"His family has all been in Griffindor," Hannah said, as if that explained everything.

Well Harry supposed that made some sense. He had decided against Griffindor because his parents were sorted there. He had wanted to put as much distance between himself and Harry Potter as possible.

Once the last student had been sorted the headmaster had said four random words, and started the feast. Harry heard the older students comment that Dumbledore was a bit mad.

* * *

Harry had found that the classes were easy after learning from Uncle Moony for so long. He liked most of the teachers. Professor Flitwick was easily his favourite teacher and he seemed to be happy to answer Harry's questions. Harry and his friends were quite eager to learn how to make objects fly. And their Professor didn't seem upset when they kept asking him when they would start.

Professor McGonagall was almost the opposite of Professor Flitwick. But she was also a good teacher. She had been impressed that Harry had transfigured his matchstick into a needle on the first day. But they still had to be patient and learn all the theory she wanted them to. She was a stern, no nonsense woman.

Herbology was mostly theory and Harry had to keep reminding himself that he would need to know more about magical plants if he was going to make better potions.

But potions was the real problem. Harry was good at making them. He knew that for a fact. But Professor Snape made it almost impossible to brew. He hovered, or loomed over students while they performed critical steps, he accused them stupidity and laziness. He even outright insulted some of the students.

But he had an even bigger problem than an incompetent teacher. It seemed that Snape knew Legilimency. Harry didn't know why, but he had decided to use Legilimency on him! He had dropped his knife when he first felt the intrusion in his mind. Justin had picked it up for him and seemed to reconsider his choice of partner for the class.

But Harry had practiced for this. He didn't try to stop Snape from seeing his memories. He merely gave him a lot of memories from St. Marks' chemistry classes. Potions was quite similar to it after all. Fortunately, Snape had no interest in those memories and left Harry alone. But now that he knew, he could see that Snape was going through the minds of other students in the class.

He fumed silently as he made the potion. An incompetent teacher, who was committing a crime! He would have the man's head. But it was almost impossible to prove that someone had used Legilimency on another person. This was a big problem and he didn't have Uncle Moony here to talk to either. There was no way he could put this in a letter.

* * *

After the class, Harry had asked some Griffindor students about Potions. What he found out made him both angry and nervous.

There was a shocking number of potions accidents. If Snape pointed out the steps where things could go wrong, people would pay more attention to them, and have fewer accidents. Did he not understand that?

He had even heard that a Griffindor had been burned by a Boil Cure potion. How it could have happened was a mystery to Harry. The potion was hardly complicated. The only place something could go so explosively wrong was if they added porcupine quills while the potion was on the flame. That was literally the only thing Snape needed to pay attention to!

It seemed that Snape had carte blanche on what he could do. Dumbledore didn't even care if he was intentionally putting students in danger. There was no point in complaining to him. He would have to find out who he could complain to.

* * *

After the third potions class where Hannah had been splashed by her potion, Harry decided that he needed to do something about it. He had gathered all the first year Hufflepuffs in the boys dorm room. As he looked at the room, he realized that half of them had already had a potion go seriously and unsalvagably wrong.

"Hi everyone, I have invited all of you to talk to you about the accidents we seem to keep having in potions," Harry said getting straight to the point.

"Oh Harry, we're all terrible at potions," Hannah wailed. Harry looked around the room again and realized that she was probably right. The right side of her face still had red splotches from her potion.

"But we're all first years. We've just started learning. I don't think it was just your fault that you got splahshed with the potion today Hannah," Harry said trying to reassure her.

"What do you mean? Of course it was her fault!" Zacharius Smith said impatiently.

"No it really wasn't. The directions said we needed to sliver the unicorn horn. Hannah was probably in a hurry and powdered it, since slivering takes much more time. Any of us could have made the mistake," Harry said, looking around. Everyone seemed to agree with him. He suspected that some other people had taken this shortcut too. They had probably made other mistakes that had made their potions less potent, and so less likely to explode. They had gotten lucky. "The only way we can avoid such mistakes is if we know what each ingredient does in the potion and where things can go wrong. I have already done this for the next potion we will be making." He handed some papers to Susan and asked her to pass them on.

The Hufflepuffs had been impressed, and many had thanked him. "Please make sure that you don't tell others about this. Some of the stuff in my notes could be asked in the homework essay, so it could be considered cheating. And I don't think Snape would let us do this if he knew."

They had all agreed to keep Harry's notes a secret. They had even offered to help him for the next potion. Soon Harry was relieved to see, there were fewer accidents in potions class.

* * *

Harry had quickly gotten used to his classes, and made some friends. In Hufflepuff, all the first years were friendly and helpful, but Harry spent most of his time with a muggleborn boy called Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot.

His new friends seemed to be obsessed with Harry Potter. It was almost like a hobby in the wizarding world. There were books about Harry Potter's adventures, which Harry was relieved to see had no relation to the real Harry Potter. Some students had even read the accursed Diary he had written. He was surprised to see how obsessively they discussed the topic, especially Susan and Hannah who had grown up in the wizarding world, hearing stories of how Harry Potter had saved them all by defeating You Know Who.

Harry had initially thought they were being silly, but when he heard that Susan's entire family, except for her aunt had been killed by Voldermort's supporters and Hannah had lost her father in the war, he understood their fanatical hero worship.

All his friends had been disappointed that the Boy Who Lived was not at Hogwarts. Susan's aunt worked for the DMLE and also on the committee that was looking into Harry Potter's disappearance.

Harry hoped that if something big happened he might hear it from Susan. But he was not optimistic. Uncle Moony had told him that her aunt did everything by the book. It was unlikely she would leak sensitive information to her eleven year old niece.

But he had heard something. There were rumors that the Dursleys had been under the Imperius curse for two years before Harry's disappearance. And Dumbledore was claiming that Harry had actually been kidnapped two years before anyone noticed that he was missing. Harry didn't put much stock in the rumors, especially if Dumbledore was the source. It was simply impossible that Uncle Moony had put the Imperius curse on anyone. And he was also wrong about when he had stopped living with his relatives.

* * *

In his previous school, Harry had been taught to always gather all relevant information before he made any important decisions. He took that advice seriously, whether it was deciding which washing machine to buy or what to do about an unsuitable teacher.

So he had gone to the library to look up old newspapers, in disguise of course. He had shoulder length black hair and appeared to be a fifteen years old. He knew that Snape had been a Death Eater before Voldermort had been defeated. So he started with the days after Voldermort's fall. He had not found anymore information on Snape than what Uncle Moony had told him. All he knew was that Dumbledore had vouched for him and claimed that he was a spy. It made him angry that Dumbledore could just claim that a criminal had helped them and allow him to escape punishment completely.

More worryingly, he read articles about how many prominent Purebloods had claimed to be under the Imperius curse and been forced to do Voldermort's bidding. Uncle Moony had warned him about them, but he was still shocked at how easily some people had escaped punishment for their crimes.

But that was not even the most disturbing information he had uncovered. The most worrying part was that a man called Sirius Black, who was supposedly his father's best friend had given his parents' location to the Death Eaters. And he had been sent to Azkaban, Harry suspected without a trial. It raised a lot of questions. Why had Uncle Moony not mentioned him? All three of them had shared a dorm for seven years. And why was there no trial? Surely everyone deserved one. The most important thing in the muggle legal system was the idea that everyone had to be proven guilty in a court, before they were punished.

Something was wrong. Harry was sure of it. He would need to find more information. Starting with making sure that Sirius Black really didn't have a trial. Because the evidence against him was nowhere near as convincing as everyone seemed to believe. And Harry was starting to think that he might not be gulity at all.

* * *

Another thing that didn't make sense to Harry was how the Daily Prophet could fill so many pages with newsprint with so little information. He was trying to find out what was publicly known about his parents' death, and where the idea that he had survived the killing curse, came from.

The newspapers were no use. They just told the story as fact, with no evidence at all. He had even asked his classmates and some of the older students.

All he could get from them was that everyone believed that Voldermort had cast the killing curse at Harry Potter and been defeated, while Harry lived. He was feeling quite frustrated. It was another thing to ask Uncle Moony at Christmas.

* * *

A week before Halloween, Harry was witness to the most shocking exchange. Draco Malfoy had called Neville Longbottom a squib and challenged him to a duel. And even more shockingly his fellow Griffindor Ron Weasley had accepted on his behalf.

There were so many things wrong with that! Harry didn't know where to begin.

He had stopped Neville as he was leaving after dinner.

"Are you really going to duel Draco Malfoy?" he asked.

"I have to…" Neville said in a desperate tone.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because…" Neville mumbled.

"Look, Malfoy challenged you, you didn't accept. So you don't have to fight," Harry said in a confidently dismissive tone. "Besides, there aren't going to be any witnesses. You can say you won. Malfoy won't be able to prove you wrong."

"But that's cheating!" Neville protested.

That was typical Griffindor. "Look, I'm not sure about this, but I think Malfoy has had dueling training before he came to school. So you're already at a disadvantage. I mean no offense but you will most probably lose."

"But what do I do?" Neville asked sounding panicked.

"It's quite simple. You need to hide. I can arrange for that. Then you go back to Griffindor tower early tomorrow morning, and say that the duel was a draw, because neither you or Malfoy could hit each other with spells."

"But I can't lie!" Neville protested.

"Well, it's not a lie, is it?" Harry asked with a smile. "If there is no duel, then neither of you could hit the other with spells."

Neville stared at him with an increulous look on his face.

"Look, I used to be like you when I started primary school. I understand that you don't make friends easily, so you want to agree with Ron, but he was being stupid. Malfoy could hurt you, and because the duel is after curfew, you will get into trouble for going to the nurse," Harry stopped when he saw Neville staring wide eyed at him.

"How could you be like me! You always get all the spells and everyone likes you," Neville said in an awed tone.

"I used to be like you five years ago. I learnt how to make friends. You can too. And I get spells right because I practice before class," Harry said with a smile. "You can too."

"Really?" Neville asked.

"Really. Now tell Ron that you're going to the library to look up spells, and meet me there."

Neville left and Harry went to catch up with his friends.

* * *

The girls were unhappy with Harry, because he was going to take a big risk helping Neville, but Justin thought it would be an adventure.

Harry and Neville had stayed in the library until most of the people around them left. Then Harry had cast a spell to change Neville's hair colour to match his own. Then they had met Justin on the way to the Hufflepuff common room, and Neville went in with him. They went to the dorm room together, and Neville got into Harry's bed and closed the curtains as agreed.

Harry walked in half an hour later, and sat in the common room making notes on the next potion they would brew. Since it was common for him to work late into the night, nobody paid him any attention.

The next morning, Harry woke up early. It was slightly uncomfortable to sleep on the couch, but he didn't mind. He went to wake Neville. The rest of the boys in Harry's dormitory had been roped into the plot too, and he wasn't worried about being caught.

Neville looked nervously at him as he told him to go back to the tower. But he did as he was told.

* * *

Harry was quite shocked to hear that Malfoy had not even turned up for the duel himself. He apparently wanted the Griffindors to get expelled. Ron had told Neville about it the next morning, and Neville told Harry at the first opportunity. Neville had the presence of mind to say that he had heard the commotion and run away before Filch could catch him.

Ron had decided that Malfoy not turning up for the duel meant that he was a coward, and Harry had heard him say it to Malfoy on a few occasions. He wondered why the boy insisted on picking fights that he was clearly ill equipped to handle.

Neville had it kept the secret of what happened on the night the duel was supposed to happen as well. This made Harry think that he was not as foolish as everyone else seemed to think. He was sure Ron would have spread the story if he knew it.

* * *

The next disaster, because it was a disaster, happened on Halloween. A troll had gotten into the school. Harry couldn't imagine how it was possible. Wasn't the school supposed to be safe? If a troll could get in, what was going to stop the other creatures from the Forbidden Forest from getting in? Could Voldermort's supporters get in as well? He grimaced as he realised that some supporters of Voldermort were already in the school.

He had gone to the Hufflepuff common room with the rest of the students at his table, and been relieved that everyone was safe.

But he found out the next morning that that had not been the case.

Neville Longbottom had been injured by the troll. He went to see him in the hospital wing.

"What happened?" Harry asked. He had taken some chocolate frogs to Neville to cheer him up. Harry had learnt long ago that sweets were the easiest way to make friends with his classmates.

"Ron had said something..." he hesitated, but he eventually continued, "Ron said something mean to Hermione, and she was crying in a bathroom. She didn't know about the troll, so Ron and I went to tell her," Neville shrugged.

Harry wanted to say that it was foolish and dangerous, but he understood that they were just worried about Hermione and hadn't thought very far ahead.

"We found Hermione, but the troll came to the bathroom as well, and well, it attacked us..." Neville trailed off.

"It's ok, don't worry about it now. You need to get some rest," Harry said placatingly.

Ron it seemed had a different story to tell. He was telling everyone who would listen that he had heroically rescued Hermione by hitting the troll in the head with its own club. Since Hermione had not contradicted the story, he had to accept it as true. Who knew Ron was an actual hero!

* * *

The whole school was going mad in the run up to the first quiddich match of the year. Harry was comfortable on a broom and had even been told that he might make the team on a school broom if he tried out. But he wanted to stay out of the spotlight. He also knew how troublesome sports rivalries could be. So he had decided to not get involved.

He had enjoyed watching quiddich, but he knew, when he saw Hufflepuff play, that they needed more than one good player to have a chance at winning a single match. It also explained why his house had a reputation for being inferior to everyone else.

* * *

Harry was very excited to go home for the holidays. He had never spent so much time away from Uncle Moony and he couldn't wait to get back home.

Harry started telling Uncle Moony about Sirius Black as soon as they reached home. Uncle Moony's face had turned pale at the mention of the name. So Harry knew he was right in thinking that they had known each other.

"Yes Harry, I knew Sirius," Uncle Moony told him wearily.

"But you never told me about him!" Harry objected.

"He was our best friend, when your father and I were in school. He was James and Lily's secret keeper. They had used a spell that would keep them safe, and only Sirius could reveal their whereabouts. But Sirius..." he seemed unable to continue, but Harry could fill in the blanks.

"But why didn't he have a trial?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure about that yet, but he wanted to know what Uncle Moony said.

"What difference does that make!" Uncle Moony exploded. He seemed to have realised that he had overreacted and put his head in his hands.

"Everyone has a right to a trial, no matter what they are accused of. Nobody is guilty of a crime until a court has found them guilty," Harry said, explaining what he knew about the muggle legal system. He himself had questioned the need for a trial, when a man accused of killing a child had been arrested the previous year. His teacher who was telling them about the news story, had then explained how the legal system worked, and why it was necessary for everyone who was accused of a crime to get fair trial. He was grateful for the years he had spent at St. Marks because he didn't think he would have been able to explain this to Uncle Moony otherwise.

"Harry, I understand, but he was James and Lily's secret keeper! And he killed another friend of ours, Peter Pettigrew," Uncle Moony replied. He looked like he really didn't want to have this conversation.

"Yes I read about that, and it doesn't make sense," Harry said with a frown.

"What doen't make sense?" Uncle Moony asked in an irritated tone.

"How did they find no parts of his body at all, except for a finger? Blasting curses aren't supposed to obliterate the person they hit. They should have found other fragments of his body too. Besides none of the muggles bodies were damaged like that. They were all found intact," Harry explained.

Uncle Moony looked ill at the description. But it was necessary to look at all the evidence. Harry was sure there was something wrong with this case. "I don't know know what happpened Harry! What are you trying to say?" Uncle Moony asked.

"They have his wand right? They can find out exactly which spells he used. Then they can figure out what happened to Peter Pettigrew's body. And everyone thinks he was responsible for telling Voldermort where my parents were. Didn't anyone think about asking him why he was looking for them in the first place? And the most important thing of all, why didn't he get a trial? A lot of people who looked as guilty as him were tried by the Wizengamot," Harry explained.

"I don't know why they did what they did Harry! There's nothing I can do!" Uncle Moony said clearly frustrated.

"There is something you can do," Harry objected. He knew Uncle Moony wouldn't like this idea. But it was obviously necessary. "You can go and talk to him!"

"Talk to him!" Uncle Moony asked incredulously.

"You can talk to him and ask him why Voldermort attacked my family. I can brew Veritaserum," Harry said.

"Uncle Moony stared at him surprised. "That's a good idea," he conceded.

"It is. But it is also illegal. If you get caught..." Harry didn't even want to think about the consequences.

And so they made their plans and preparations to investigate Voldermort's attack on the Potter family.

* * *

A/N: So what do you guys think about Harry being in Hufflepuff? It is supposed to be the least flashy of the Hogwarts houses. And what do you think will happen when Remus goes to speak to Sirius? This chapter has been light on action, but the next one won't be.

Next time: Sirius tells his story. Harry hears about the Philosophers stone. With surprising results.


	5. Chapter 5: The Trial

Harry had started brewing Veritaserum the same day. It would take a fortnight, and he wanted to make sure that it was finished before he left for school. Uncle Moony had insisted on waiting till Harry was back at Hogwarts, to even apply to meet Sirius Black. He had argued that Black had been in prison for ten years, so a few weeks would make no difference. Uncle Moony really wasn't willing to consider that he might not have committed the crimes he was accused of.

"Harry, what madness is this? Sirius Black gave your parents up to You Know Who, and killed Peter. He has been in Azkaban for ten years. He is not innocent!" Uncle Moony said heatedly.

"Maybe he isn't innocent. But he might not be guilty of all the crimes he was accused of! And being in prison isn't evidence of his guilt," Harry was frustrated too. Why was Uncle Moony refusing to understand?

"How could he not be guilty?" Uncle Moony asked.

"Well, nobody saw my parents cast the Fidelius charm. So we aren't absolutely sure that he was the secret keeper," Harry pointed out.

"But Sirius and James were best friends! Everyone knew he was the secret keeper," Remus objected.

"Yes. But they could have changed their minds at the last minute. Who told the Aurors that it was Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore did. But he wouldn't lie about this," Remus said a little defensively.

"Do you still trust Dumbledore enough to send someone to prison because he says they are guilty? After everything he has done!" Harry asked outraged.

"But Harry he killed Peter and 13 muggles," Uncle Moony said, changing the subject.

"And there were lots of muggle witnesses, apparently. But all of them have been oblivated," Harry said.

"But the Aurors took statements!" Uncle Moony said clearly exasperated.

"From muggles. They don't even know that magic is real! And you think the first time they see magic, they're going to be able to tell who cast the spells? And what the spells cast by each person in the fight did?" Harry asked.

That gave him pause. Uncle Moony had clearly not thought about how reliable muggle witnesses to a magical fight were. Harry was frustrated with how the wizarding justice system worked. Since the muggles had been oblivated ten years ago, there was no way to ask follow up questions now. And there was also the mystery of how Peter Pettigrew's body had been vaporized!

Harry put the picture of the fight from an old copy of the Daily Prophet on the table. "There isn't enough blood," he said. Uncle Moony looked at him like he had gone mad. But Harry persisted with his explanation. "If all five litres of blood from Peter Pettigrew's body ended up on the street, there is nowhere near enough blood here," Harry said pointing at the picture. "And there would have been more fragments of bone and muscle as well."

"Maybe Sirius used some sort of Blood Boiling curse," Uncle Moony said although he didn't seem to believe it.

"I'm not saying that he definitely didn't do it. But we need more information. I'm only asking you to keep an open mind Uncle Moony," Harry finally said.

Uncle Moony agreed, and that ended their first argument. But the next one started soon enough.

"What would be the point of talking to Black, if I don't give him Veritaserum?" Uncle Moony asked.

"But it's illegal. And you're going to be inside a prison. If you get caught, there's nothing we can do!" Harry objected. He was really scared and worried about this. He was seriously regretting his suggestion to use Veritaserum.

"Harry please calm down. I'm not going to get caught. We already have a good plan. It's going to work," Uncle Moony tried to reassure him.

"If you're sure. But if you have any doubts, please don't do it," Harry said almost begging him to reconsider.

"This is important," Uncle Moony said firmly. "We have no idea why You Know Who went to so much trouble to kill your family. And we need to know everything that Sirius knows about that. Some of the members of the Order think he was trying to kill you not just your parents. It that's really true, we need to know."

Harry agreed that they needed this information. He just didn't want Uncle Moony to take such a big risk.

There was something else he was curious about. "Uncle Moony, do you know why everyone thinks that I survived the killing curse?" Harry asked. What he really wanted to know was who had started the absurd rumor.

"I don't know for sure, but Dumbledore told me that he had killed James and Lily, and when he tried to kill you, the curse rebounded on him," Uncle Moony said thoughtfully.

So Dumbledore was responsible for this absurd story! "But there's no proof that any of it is true," Harry exclaimed. "Why does everyone believe it?"

"Because even the people who don't like Dumbledore agree that he is usually right," Uncle Moony said with a bitter smile.

* * *

Harry had brewed Veritaserum and spent time with his muggle friends over the Christmas holidays.

After Christmas, Harry had brought up the topic of how his Potions Professor was doing as bad a job as possible of teaching, and that he would occasionally try to read his mind. He wanted to complain about him. But Uncle Moony had warned him that it was a lost cause. Older and more powerful people had objected to Snape's presence at Hogwarts. But Dumbledore was determined to keep him there.

In the interest of not attracting too much attention, Harry had agreed that he wouldn't send a letter to the Board of Governors. He wondered if Uncle Moony had noticed that he hadn't agreed to leave the incompetent Professor alone.

* * *

On the day before Harry would be leaving for school, he had been discussing the Death Eaters still at large, especially the one at Hogwarts, and their inability to taking action against him, when Uncle Moony suddenly had another brilliant idea.

He had put a muggle notebook on the desk, and cast the Geminio charm on it. It was instantly duplicated. Then he had proceeded to write in one of them, and asked Harry to open the other. Harry was impressed to see that he could read what was written in the first book. He had also added a charm that would make them heat up when something was modified in one of them. This would solve their communication problems.

Uncle Moony had explained that the books worked like the Dark Mark, that Voldermort branded on his followers. Harry agreed that it was a good way to communicate. And it had the advantage of being able to send actual information, as opposed to Voldermort's Dark Mark, that only allowed him to organize a meeting.

But he found the book becoming warm uncomfortable, so he had Uncle Moony change it, so that it would vibrate when there was a new message. Like those new inventions in the muggle world called mobile phones. He hoped someone found a way to make them cheaper. He wanted to buy one.

* * *

Harry had finished the Veritaserum the day before he left for school. Remus was relieved to see the clear potion in tiny vials. He felt sure that something would have gone wrong if he tried to finish the potion. If he remembered correctly, only Snape and Lily had successfully made it in their year. He had not even gotten into the NEWT class.

Now that Harry was safely back at school, he really had no excuse for delaying the interrogation of Sirius Black. That was all it would be, he told himself. He would go into the prison, give Black the potion and ask his questions.

Remus had filed the paperwork to request a meeting with an inmate of Azkaban shortly after Harry had gone to school.

He had received a letter from the Auror office saying that he was expected to go and meet them at the Ministry and answer questions. The meeting had been as unpleasant as he expected. They had asked about his friendship with the prisoner, his status as a werewolf, his lack of employment, his finances or lack thereof, and many more things he really didn't want to talk about.

He had played the role of the destitute werewolf, knowing that it was the path of least resistance. He had told the Aurors questioning him that he wanted to ask Sirius Black if he knew anything about what had happened to Harry. He was Voldermort's right hand man after all.

The Aurors had clearly thought he was clutching at straws. After eleven years in Azkaban, there was no hope that Black was still sane. They clearly thought he was wasting his time. What they didn't know was that he had a secret weapon. He was hoping that Veritaserum would allow him to get useful information out of the traitor irrespective of how damaged his mind was.

* * *

After a long wait of several weeks, he had finally received permission to visit Sirius Black in his cell in Azkaban prison. At least they had agreed. He would finally have good news for Harry.

Remus had gone to the island Azkaban was on in the boat used to transport prisoners. It was a truly depressing place. Even during the day, it was dull and cold. As he stepped on the island, he could feel the despair that the Dementors wore like armour.

If he got caught with Veritaserum, he would never leave this island of despair. Did his former friend really know anything useful? Maybe he should just go back, before something went wrong. He was trying desperately to keep his mind focused on the task at hand, but he couldn't help but go through various nightmare scenarios.

He was going to do what he came for, he told himself firmly. Harry needed information, Harry needed him to find out what the traitor knew.

He was taken into the fortress, where he had to wait in a small room, while they prepared for a visitor. Time itself seemed to be passing slowly at the prison. He had eventually been taken to the guardhouse. There the Auror on duty was expecting him.

"Lupin is it?" he asked, giving Remus's companion a significant look.

"The werewolf," the Auror who had accompanied Remus, and had introduced himself as Fenwick, answered.

"What is the world coming to," the guard said giving Remus another look. "Werewolves getting permission to meet murderers," he said as he came closer to search him.

As Remus had expected they took his wand. They had also found his flask, which was half full of firewhisky.

The guard, who Remus suspected was called Savage, sniffed at it and raised his eyebrows. "Firewhisky?"

Remus merely nodded. He really hoped they didn't want to keep it.

"It's fine. He might need it where he's going," Fenwick said with a knowing smile. Apparently they had heard of his reputation for being an alcoholic.

Savage returned the flask, with a warning. "You pass out, no one's coming to look for you."

"Of course," Remus said.

He walked with Savage to the deeper levels of the prison and the air got colder and heavier, with each step they descended. The route was fairly straightforward. At least he wouldn't get lost on his way back.

Savage said, "Fourth cell on your left," when they were at the deepest level. Then he simply turned around and left. The prisoners were not silent on any of the floors, but on this floor, there were few coherent sentences in their screams and wails. He could do nothing about the feeling of dread that had settled in his stomach. This is for Harry, he reminded himself over and over. He had to get information.

He walked up to the fourth cell on the left, and looked inside. He stood there staring for a few minutes, until the prisoner inside realized that he had a visitor. He straightened up from a corner of the cell, and walked right up to the bars, uncomfortably close to Remus, who flinched back.

His former friend had been handsome and full of life, with lustrous black hair and grey eyes full of mischief. The filthy, emanciated prisoner in front of him bore no resemblance to that man. He wore threadbare robes, that Remus knew were supposed to be grey, and he was shivering in the oppressive cold of Azkaban. Remus had seen corpses that looked better.

"Remus Lupin!" he said in a voice hoarse with disuse. Or screaming. Then he burst into hysterical laughter.

Remus was at a loss for words. He had known that Black was probably insane. But seeing it was something else.

"Finally thought of me have you," he said when he had finally calmed somewhat.

Remus shook himself and took a step closer to the bars. He extended his flask to Sirius Black, and said "Drink."

That seemed to be confuse him. But fortunately, he did drink, and his eyes glazed over.

Remus pocketed the flask back and asked, "What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black," he answered in the flat tone of someone under the influence of Veritaserum.

* * *

Remus walked back through the prison in a daze. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. How could this have happened? How could an innocent man have spent eleven years in Azkaban? How could he have allowed his friend to rot in this place?

"Lupin?" the Auror asked, making him realize that he was back at the guardhouse. He mechanically completed the paperwork and took back his wand. Then he was taken back to the mainland by boat. As he got off, he wondered how he was supposed to get his innocent friend out of Azkaban, when everyone believed he was guilty.

Not everyone he realized. Harry had warned him that Sirius might not be guilty. He hadn't taken him seriously then. But now he knew. He would tell Harry, and they would decide what to do together.

* * *

Remus waited until after dinner, before telling Harry about his meeting with Sirius. He used the "communication books" as Harry called them.

Remus: You were right Harry. Sirius is innocent. He hasn't committed any of the crimes. He wasn't James and Lily's secret keeper.

Harry had replied quickly.

Harry: He really didn't do anything?

R: No

H: We need to get him out of prison.

R: Yes. But how?

H: You can write to Madam Bones. She was recently promoted to Head of the DMLE.

R: You don't understand Harry. Nobody is going to take me seriously.

H: I'm sure Madam Bones will listen to us, if we tell her everything. Well not about the Veritaserum but everything else.

R: I don't think she will do anything. We can't prove anything!

H: But we don't have to prove anything. The DMLE needs to prove that Mr. Black really is guilty. If they can't then they can't keep him in prison.

R: But how are we going to convince them to reopen the case?

H: We can send Madam Bones a letter. I'll write down everything that we need to tell her.

And Harry had written down all of the supposed evidence against one Sirius Black. He had then proceeded to poke holes in most of it. Combined with the fact that Sirius had not received a trial, or even been questioned, he argued that the DMLE couldn't keep him in prison. They had to give him a trial as soon as possible.

Remus had wasted no time in writing a letter to the Head of the DMLE, with all of Harry's arguments in favor of giving Sirius Black a trial. As he read the letter again, he realized that Harry had made the same arguments during the holidays, when he had warned him that Sirius might not be guilty. He wondered how he could have dismissed all of Harry's objections at the time. And he sincerely hoped that Madam Bones had more sense than he did.

* * *

Remus had been quite surprised to hear back from Madam Bones a few days later. She had thanked him for bringing the discrepancies in Mr. Black's case to her attention. And he could hardly believe it, but there was going to be a trial!

Harry had been sure that if Sirius was tried in a muggle court, he would be acquitted. But there were other things to consider in the Wizengamot. They wouldn't set Sirius free, unless there was proof that he was actually innocent. Madam Bones was surely aware of all of that. And considering that she must have gone to some trouble to organize a trial, he hoped she knew what she was doing.

The next letter Remus received had initially surprised him, but then he supposed that he should have expected it. It was from Dumbledore. He was not so sure that Sirius was guilty anymore and he requested a meeting. He didn't mention it in the letter, but Remus was sure he knew that he had visited Sirius in prison recently, and written to Madam Bones.

He hoped he had not made Dumbledore too suspicious by refusing the meeting. But he was not keen on giving anything away before the trial.

* * *

Remus sat in the visitor's gallery of the Wizengamot looking at the assembled witches and wizards. Everyone seemed nervous. That was expected of course. They had no idea what was going on until the previous day. Madam Bones had kept the news of Sirius's trial very quiet, for as long as possible. He suspected that the people responsible for putting Sirius in prison would try to stop the trial from happening.

The proceedings were started by the Chief Warlock Dumbledore.

Amelia Bones started describing the case against Sirius.

"It was recently brought to the attention of the DMLE, that the Azkaban inmate Sirius Black was not tried before the Wizengamot prior to his incarceration on November 2, 1981. When the DMLE started a fresh investigation into this case, we found that he was not even questioned by the Aurors. As he was believed to be Voldermort's right hand man, Aurors promptly rectified this oversight and questioned him under the effect of Veritaserum. What they found was truly shocking. He told them that he was not a Death Eater, he was not the secret keeper for the Potters when they died and he didn't kill Peter Pettigrew or any muggles."

Everyone started talking furiously to their neighbors. But opinions seemed to be divided. Madam Bones started speaking louder to be heard over the noise, "Subsequent investigation by the DMLE showed that the last spells cast using Black's wand were a shield charm, a stunning spell, detection charms and a healing charm on a child, in reverse order of casting.

"The investigation into Peter Pettigrew's supposed death showed that the human body parts found at the scene could not account for his body, apart from a single finger. So the DMLE believes that there was not enough evidence to conclude that he is indeed dead."

There was uproar in the court at hearing that. If Sirius had not committed the crimes he was accused of and Peter had staged his own death, there was cause for concern. Dumbledore was forced to bring order to the court by creating a loud blast with his wand.

Madam Bones continued, "In light of this evidence, I propose to bring the case of Sirius Black before the Wizengamot today, and question him under the influence of Veritaserum."

The vote was called and passed comfortably. Remus breathed a sigh of relief. If Sirius was questioned under Veritaserum, he was reasonably sure the Wizengamot would release him.

Sirius was brought in, in chains. But he had been allowed to clean up and most reassuringly he was not escorted by Dementors. Remus hoped that meant Madam Bones believed him.

Without much ado, Madam Bones opened a sealed vial of Veritaserum and placed three drops on his tounge. He swallowed and his eyes glazed over.

Remus had to smile at that. Sirius seemed to be drinking Veritaserum like water this month. He had given him much more than three drops in his determination to get the truth, then the Aurors had used the potion on him and now he had taken it in front of the Wizengamot. But Madam Bones started asking questions and all humor fled instantly.

"What is your name," she asked.

"Sirius Orion Black," he answered, in a flat tone.

"Were you ever a member of the group calling itself the Death Eaters?"

"No."

"Did you give the location of the Potter family to He Who Must Not Be Named?"

"No."

"Were you the secret keeper for the Potter family?" Madam Bones asked.

"No. Peter Pettigrew was."

"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No. He is not dead."

"What happened during your confrontation with him?"

Remus was surprised at the open ended question. All of the previous questions were very specific. But of course, she already knew the answer. The Aurors had questioned him earlier.

"I cornered Peter in a muggle street. He screamed some rubbish about James and Lily, and I tried to stun him. But he dodged the spell. Then he blew up the street and escaped as a rat," Sirius said. The Wizengamot had been mostly silent during his testimony but now they started whispering to each other.

"How could he escape as a rat?" Madam Bones asked, louder than before.

"He is an unregistered animagus. His form is a rat."

"We found his finger at the scene," Madam Bones said, prompting Sirius to explain away the evidence in favor of Peter's death.

"He must have cut it off himself before he escaped."

Madam Bones indicated that she was satisfied. But some members of the Wizengamot still had questions.

"The wand confiscated from you doesn't have any spells that could have killed Pettigrew. Did you have another wand?" Mr. Greengrass asked.

"No," was all Sirius said.

"Why didn't you tell the Aurors you didn't kill the muggles and your friend?" Madam Marchbanks asked.

"I don't know," Sirius said to considerable confusion.

Madam Bones explained to the Wizengamot that Sirius was probably in shock after his friends deaths, and realizing another friend had betrayed them. As usual she did a good job of explaining it and gave example of Aurors who had seen their colleagues die. Remus was relieved to see that most of the Wizengamot was inclined to believe her.

The rest of the Wizengamot had asked their questions, and the vote was called. Remus was nervous about this, because even though they had proved that Sirius had not actually committed any crimes, that might not be sufficient. The Wizengamot was notorious for putting politics above the truth. He desperately hoped that Sirius would be freed.

He anxiously counted the number of people who had voted to acquit his friend. More than half he noted with relief. It was then that he realized that Dumbledore was one of those people. He had gotten so used to being against Dumbledore, that he hadn't realized that they were on the same side in this case.

That explained everything! As Chief Warlock, Dumbledore was had a position of power. And a lot of people would blindly do whatever he said. Many of them had voted to acquit Sirius. Dumbledore must have done something ensure the trial happened, because Remus was sure that the people who put Sirius in prison in '81 would have tried to prevent the trial. And then there were people like Malfoy who would benefit if Sirius died in prison. If he was not wrong, his son was likely to inherit the Black fortune after Sirius.

How had he not realized this before! He wanted to meet Sirius, but there was something else he needed to do first. He rushed from the room and walked into the nearest bathroom. He locked the cubicle behind him and wrote to Harry in their communication books.

R: Sirius was acquitted.

H: I knew it! There was no evidence against him.

Remus had no doubt that Harry was eagerly awaiting the results of the trial. He was just relieved that Harry had answered so quickly.

R: But we might have a problem. Dumbledore seems to want Sirius out of prison. He friends on the Wizengamot voted to free Sirius.

H: He might have realized Sirius was not guilty.

R: He might. But there is another reason. Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather.

H: So?

R: I don't know how, but I think Dumbledore is going to use it. He is still looking for you.

H: You were going to talk to Mr. Black right? Ask him what's going on.

R: I don't know if he will even talk to me! I thought he was the traitor. I let him rot in Azkaban for eleven years.

H: Yes but you were the only one to visit him in prison. And you found out he was not guilty. Take credit for getting him a trial.

R: I have to go. I'm going to find Sirius. I'll let you know how it goes.

Remus was not comfortable doing any of what Harry had told him. But he knew he had to remain on good terms with Sirius, because they needed to know what Dumbledore was up to. Harry's safety depended on it.

* * *

Sirius was being escorted out of the courtroom when Remus met him. The Ministry officials were taking him to St. Mungo's.

"Sirius?" Remus called as he approached the group.

"Remus!" Sirius said with a smile. He walked up and embraced Remus. There were camera flashes as the assembled journalists took photos.

"Madam Bones said you got me a trial. Said you visited me and found out I was innocent and you looked into the case. She was really impressed at how you took apart the prosecution's case. She thinks you did better than any defense lawyer could," Sirius said, still with a smile.

Remus hesitated. He felt uncomfortable taking credit for something Harry had done. And he had not expected Sirius to act like this. He had expected him to be angry and upset. He didn't know how to react.

"Mr. Remus, we have to escort Mr. Black to St. Mungo's for treatment. We're going to have to leave," a young Auror told him apologetically.

"But you'll visit me right?" Sirius asked, looking worried.

Remus assured him that he would and got details of which ward Sirius would be in from the Auror.

He had not been a good friend for eleven years, but he would do better now.

* * *

The next morning, Remus had received a frantic letter from Sirius asking him to visit at once. And Remus had lost no time in going to visit his friend.

In the room assigned to Sirius, he was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He looked up as Remus walked into the room.

He jumped out of bed and rushed to him, startling him. "Remus, they're saying that Harry's missing. Some people even think that he might be dead!" Sirius looked at him desperately, pleading with him to deny the stories.

Remus looked away from him. It was within his power to tell Sirius that Harry was not missing or dead. He was safe at Hogwarts. But he couldn't. Harry's safety was more important than Sirius. And he had resolved to be a better friend, just yesterday.

"Harry is missing," Remus confirmed. He was disgusted with himself. But he could not tell Sirius the truth. He might tell someone, intentionally or unintentionally. He had spent eleven years with the Dementors. That must have damaged his mind. And Dumbledore and Snape were known to use Legilimency on those around them. Remus was not about to trust him with Harry's safety.

"We're looking for him," Remus tried to reassure his friend.

"But you haven't found him," Sirius said. Tears were flowing freely from his eyes now. "Dumbledore has no idea how to find him. He asked me, if I had a way to find Harry. Me!" Sirius seemed to have gone from despair to anger in the space of one sentence. "I've been in bloody Azkaban! How am I supposed to know where Harry is? Last I heard Hagrid was taking him to Dumbledore."

"Sirius you need to calm down, please." Remus said. He tried to get him back into bed. "How much do you know about what happened to Harry?" he asked. He knew he shouldn't tell Sirius anything about Harry Potter's disappearance while he was in this state. But it wasn't like he wouldn't find out on his own. Especially when he started looking for his godson.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. When Remus merely waited, he continued, "Dumbledore told me that Harry was kidnapped by someone from his aunt and uncles' place and he has been missing for a couple of years."

"That's not the whole story," Remus said without inflection. Dumbledore was trying to tell half truths to make it sound like this wasn't his fault. It made his blood boil.

"Harry was living with Lily's muggle sister, since James and Lily died," Remus started.

"But she hated magic," Sirius interrupted immediately.

"Exactly, she hated magic," Remus said nodding grimly. "They made Harry work like a house elf, they starved him, beat him and locked him up in a cupboard under the stairs."

Sirius was staring at him in shock. "You're serious!" he finally exclaimed. Remus nodded. "You're sure?" he asked putting his head in his hands. And Remus nodded again.

"So he ran away?" Sirius asked.

"That's what the Ministry thinks happened," Remus said softly. He thought he knew what Sirius was thinking about. He had grown up with abusive parents. And he had run away from home too.

"But Dumbledore said…" Sirius trailed off awkwardly.

"I know what Dumbledore is saying. He told the Order of the Phoenix that Harry was kidnapped about two years before we found out Harry was no longer with his relatives, and the kidnappers put his aunt and uncle under the Imperius curse."

"What! But how could nobody know that Harry had been kidnapped for two years?" Sirius objected.

"I don't know who is right. All I know is that we are no closer to finding Harry," Remus said looking away from Sirius.

"But we have to do something!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But what?" Remus asked. He had gotten them into this mess. And now he was lying to his only remaining friend after kidnapping his godson. How was he ever going to solve this one?

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favourited this story!

I hadn't originally planned to get Sirius Black out of prison at all. He was supposed to escape in Harry's third year as he does in the books. But this version of Harry would of course investigate the war against Voldermort. And as a relatively neutral observer, who has some idea of how the criminal justice system is supposed to work (in the muggle world), he found all the problems in the case of Sirius Black. And once he knew he was not guilty, he had to try and get him out of prison.

What do you guys think? I wanted to see if it was possible to get Sirius out of prison without having Peter the rat animagus in court. So was the trial realistic?

Next time: Harry solves the mystery of the third floor corridor which promises a painful death, but no Philosopher's stone is going to impress him! And he meets his godfather.


	6. Chapter 6: Neville vs Snape

Harry was relieved to hear about Sirius Black's acquittal. But he knew that Uncle Moony was upset about lying to him. Even worse, Mr. Black seemed to be mentally unbalanced. And Harry knew that hearing about his relatives would only upset him further.

But what he was really worried about was that Uncle Moony was blaming himself in the Harry Potter- Sirius Black situation. He didn't want either of them to be upset. He had even offered to meet Mr. Black and tell him the whole story. But Uncle Moony had dismissed the idea, because he was too unstable.

Harry was relieved to hear that, because he was worried that Mr. Black could send Uncle Moony to prison for kidnapping. Or blackmail them with the information. Having guardianship of Harry Potter would give Mr. Black a lot of political power. Harry didn't want to tell him there was a way he could accomplish it.

Harry was walking back to his common room lost in thought when he saw Neville in an empty classroom. He had already walked in before he realized that the other boy was crying.

"Harry!" he said in alarm.

"Uh, hi Neville," Harry said looking at the wall behind him. He had no idea how to deal with crying children. "So what have you been up to lately?" he asked.

"Nothing much. Homework, classes…" Neville said awkwardly. At least he had stopped crying.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked. He didn't want to ask Neville why he was crying, but he had to do something to help. Neville tried to avoid the question by saying nothing was wrong.

"Just tell me what it is," Harry said running his fingers through his hair. "I can help you."

"You can't," Neville mumbled.

"Of course I can. I can solve all problems. Don't you know I can do magic," Harry said with false cheerfulness. It was a running joke among the muggleborn students of Hufflepuff, that they could solve all the problems in the world because they could do magic.

Neville didn't seem to get it though, because he said, "You can't help me with magic," and to Harry's dismay he started crying again.

"Come on Neville, the joke wasn't that bad," Harry said, trying one more time to make him laugh.

Neville gave him a watery smile, before saying, "I melted another cauldron in potions. I can't do anything right. What if I fail? I'll be a first year again next year."

Harry considered the problem. He knew that he could help Neville with potions. But if Snape treated his other first year class like Harry's, that would not be enough. Snape had a reputation for doing everything short of physical assault to destroy his students' concentration. He would often stand behind them while they performed important or delicate steps in a potion, and distract them by asking questions or making offensive statements. Neville seemed to be the sort of person who would be affected by such tactics.

Just tutoring him would not be enough. Neville would continue to make bad potions as long as Snape was teaching. But the offer to help him would probably make him feel better.

"You know, Snape is a terrible teacher," Harry finally said to Neville.

Neville mumbled something incoherent.

"I think he is deliberately trying to make sure that we're bad at potions," Harry continued.

"You really think so?" Neville asked. A teacher trying to make sure his students didn't learn was clearly a revolutionary idea to him.

"Yes I really think so," Harry told him firmly. "So all the Hufflepuff first years have decided that we're going to teach ourselves. Would you like to join us?" he asked.

"But I'm terrible at potions," Neville protested.

"We all were. But we've gotten better since we started studying together. You should come," Harry told him reassuringly. "And don't worry about the exams. As long as you're not too bad compared to everyone else, you'll be fine. I don't think Snape will give us high marks even if we did everything perfectly."

"You really think he will be so unfair?" Neville asked and then blushed when he remembered who they were talking about.

"You've been to his classes haven't you? When has he ever been fair?" Harry asked rhetorically. "We can even make plans to get some revenge."

"Revenge?" Neville asked awed. "But he's a teacher."

"Teachers are human. They don't have superpowers," Harry said with a smile. "Did you know that Snape used to be a Death Eater?" he said in a more serious tone. "You know what a Death Eater is right?"

"Yes," Neville said. "But he can't be one. Why would he be teaching if he was a Death Eater?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" Harry said.

"But you're sure?"

Harry nodded. "It was in the Daily Prophet in November 1981. You can go to the library and have a look." He turned to leave, but stopped and said, "If you need help with anything, you can ask me."

Neville seemed to be deciding if he should mention something else to Harry. So he waited until he had made up his mind. "Harry, do you know anything about Nicolas Flamel?"

"You mean the guy who claimed to have invented the Philosopher's stone? But why do you want to know about him?" Harry asked puzzled.

"The thing that's in the third floor corridor, we think it belongs to him," Neville said conspiratorially.

"What?" Harry asked in confusion. "Don't tell me you're planning to go after it," Harry said warningly.

"No we're not. But Snape might," Neville said.

Harry had to laugh at that. Who was he to stop the Death Eater from going on a fool's errand? "That's his problem isn't it?" Harry said.

"But what if he really steals it?" Neville said.

"Why should it be a problem if he steals it? He might even stop teaching. That would be good for us right?" Harry laughed. Harry left the classroom still laughing. Philosopher's stone? Really? Wizards would believe anything.

* * *

Remus had gone to visit Sirius at his new apartment in London. He was worried about the upcoming meeting as he always was when he met Sirius these days. He suspected that Dumbledore had some way of finding Harry using Sirius. Harry thought he was paranoid. But he had known Dumbledore for longer. They couldn't afford to underestimate Dumbledore.

"Remus," Sirius said in relief as he opened the door for him.

"What's bothering you?" Remus asked walking into the living room. The apartment was larger and more comfortable than the one he lived in with Harry. Sirius had told him he had two spare bedrooms and he was considering getting a house elf.

It was not his fault that he had money. And Remus knew that he wasn't trying to show off. But it bothered him because Harry was his responsibility and he couldn't provide him with many of the things that Sirius could afford so easily. But he couldn't help feeling slightly bitter about the fact that Sirius had spent more money than he had made in the last ten years in the few months since he had left Azkaban.

Remus sat down on a comfortable chair in the living room, and raised his eyebrows when Sirius poured them glasses of Firewhisky.

"I had a fight with Dumbledore," Sirius admitted. "He put Harry with those …" He swallowed his drink and turned to Remus again. "Did you read Harry's diary?" he demanded furiously. "Why didn't you take him, Remus? Why didn't you do something?" he lunged at Remus and grabbed the front of his robes.

Remus was alarmed by his behavior, but he tried to stay calm and pulled his hands off his robes and made him sit back down, before answering in a deliberately calm tone, "I tried to find him Sirius, I really did. But Dumbledore had already put him with Lily's sister. He refused to let me even see James's son! So I looked Petunia up in the muggle world and decided to go and meet Harry." Remus got up and started pacing. "I don't know why I didn't meet him. I just couldn't find her address. And when I was searching, I would remember that I have to go and meet my mother or something else like that… I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Dumbledore put a Notice Me Not on Petunia's house." In fact, when Remus had found Harry, he had been going round in circles for ages trying to find one of Harry's neighbors to deliver a parcel. Even Harry agreed with the theory that Dumbledore had put some kind of Notice Me Not spell on him or the house.

"That stupid old man! He put my godson with those sorry excuses for humans and then put a Notice Me Not on the house, so nobody outside would know that they were hurting him. I'm going to kill him!" Sirius said angrily. Remus stopped him from going wherever he wanted to go by Floo, and forced him to sit down.

"Sirius please calm down. Hexing Dumbledore will not help right now. We need to get as much information as we can. Then we need to find Harry, on our own. I don't think I can trust Dumbledore with Harry after what he did," Remus said trying to calm Sirius down.

"You always were the sensible one," Sirius said. And Remus was relieved to see that he had accepted his statements about Dumbledore. That was good. If Sirius didn't trust Dumbledore then he would be less like to get caught for the kidnapping.

"Did Dumbledore know anything more about when Harry went missing?" Remus asked. But he had told Sirius the same story that he had told the Order.

"What about Harry's Hogwarts letter?" Remus asked. Even though Dumbledore hadn't mentioned it, he knew that the old man was expecting to solve the mystery of Harry's disappearance when the letters were sent out.

"He said there was no letter for Harry Potter last summer," Sirius said shaking his head. "He thinks Harry is not in the country. But if he is somewhere else, wouldn't the school who got him want to talk about it?" Sirius asked confused.

Yes they would. But Harry hadn't left the country. He had changed his name. And they had no idea, Remus noted with relief.

Harry had some suggestions for what Sirius should be doing and Remus decided to mention one of them to him. "You know, the Potters were quite a rich family."

Sirius was confused at the non sequitur. "I have money too. If we only had a way to use it find Harry…"

"No that's not what I meant," Remus said. "The people who have him might want his money. You need to make sure that the kidnappers or the Ministry don't get it."

Sirius had not considered this it seemed. "I'll make sure of it," he said nodding.

Then there was the other, and in Harry's opinion more important point. "Do you know why everyone thinks that Harry survived the killing curse?" Remus asked.

"I don't know. But I see what you mean. Maybe the bastard died before trying to kill him?" Sirius asked. He was lost in thought for a few minutes, then he said, "But I remember before James and Lily went into hiding, they said that He was trying to kill Harry. I didn't really understand it at the time, but now…"

"Now that Harry survived the attack, it makes you wonder why He cared about a baby," Remus finished his thought.

"You know, it was on Dumbledore's information that they decided to go into hiding." Sirius said excitedly. "Maybe he knows something."

"He always knows something. He's not going to tell us though," Remus said bitterly.

"Well I'm going to find out," Sirius said determinedly.

That was exactly what Harry wanted Sirius to do. He would be pleased.

* * *

Harry had convinced the first year Hufflepuffs to start practicing making potions in one of the many unused classrooms. He had over time invited some older students as well as some of the Ravenclaws who he thought would keep the secret. And now Neville had joined them.

They were making Forgetfulness Draught, and Harry found that there was some truth to the stories that Neville simply couldn't brew potions. He had to literally watch Neville every second, as he chopped ingredients and added them to the cauldron. He had to keep track of the recipe and keep a count of how many times he stirred. It was exhausting and he could see why Snape hated him.

But irrespective of how bad his students were, Snape had signed up to teach eleven year olds, and was being paid to do it. There could be no excuse for his behavior. Still, Harry thought, Neville would benefit from more practice before he made the potion under Snape's unnecessarily watchful eye.

Neville agreed without complaint and started preparing to brew the next batch. Harry wondered casually if he might not have been better suited to Hufflepuff. Well at least his next potions class would be without incident.

* * *

But that was not to be. The next evening, Harry was having dinner at the Hufflepuff table, when he heard that Neville Longbottom had accused their Potions Professor of being a Death Eater and got detention for a month. Harry had choked on his soup.

He could hardly believe it. Neville had stood up to Snape! He had the guts to do something that the majority of the school and even Harry, could only dream of!

When his mind returned to the conversation at the table, Hannah was explaining what Death Eaters were to Justin and two of the older Hufflepuffs were discussing the details of Neville and Snape's argument in awed voices.

"Fred told me everything! Longbottom got mad at Snape for saying something to his muggleborn friend. He told him that they knew he was a Death Eater and to stop insulting the Granger girl because she was muggleborn," a third year girl was telling her friend.

"He really said that to Snape!" she asked impressed.

"That's not all," the first girl was saying. "Longbottom also called Snape a coward for hiding his face while committing crimes and groveling at You Know Who's feet. He even said the name."

"He didn't!" her friend exclaimed. "He must have gotten detention for the rest of the year!"

"Snape took about a hundred points from Griffindor and he was taken to the headmaster's office," she said unconcerned. "But he's a hero in Griffindor."

* * *

Harry jumped from his seat and ran hallway to the headmaster's office. He knew where it was from Uncle Moony, but he had to wait outside because he didn't have the password. He wondered what was going to happen to Neville.

As he paced in front of the gargoyle, he had to admit that he was at least partly responsible for Neville's outburst. He had accused Snape of being a Death Eater as well as incompetent and unfair, and Neville had believed him. But how was he supposed to know that he would accuse him to his face! And he had no idea how to help him right now. Of course this left no doubt in his mind that Neville was definitely a Griffindor.

After what seemed like an eternity, the gargoyle moved and Neville walked out with an intimidating looking woman with a stuffed vulture on her hat. He stared at her open mouthed until Neville said, "Harry, what are you doing here?"

"Uh I, I was worried about you. I heard about Snape and…" Harry was wondering what to say, and he had come to the conclusion that Dumbledore had called Neville's guardian, which was never a good thing.

Neville looked uncomfortable, but he introduced the woman with him, "Harry this is my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom."

"A pleasure to meet you Madam. My name is Harry Carter," he replied with a bow.

The woman nodded her approval. "So you are the one who told my grandson about the Death Eater?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," Harry replied. He had to admit that Neville's grandmother intimidated him.

"Thank you for the warning," she said with a regal nod. "Dumbledore is refusing to see sense. Neville says you're muggleborn, so if Snape causes any trouble for you, you write to me," she said to Harry, surprising him.

"Thank you ma'am," was all Harry could say.

"I'll see you at Christmas, Neville," she said and with a last nod to both boys, she had left.

When Harry had finally recovered from his meeting with the lady, he asked Neville, "What was that?"

"Uh, I don't know. When Dumbledore Floo called my Gran, I was sure she was going to kill me. But she got angry at Dumbledore for hiring a Death Eater. She even said she was proud of me and that my dad would have stood up for his friends too!" Neville said. He seemed to be in shock.

Harry thought he understood Mrs. Longbottom's reaction. Death Eater's had put her son and daughter-in-law in St. Mungo's for life. So she probably had little sympathy for them. And she was probably the one who told Neville Death Eaters were ashamed to show their faces and hid behind masks. So she saw nothing wrong with her grandson repeating it to an acknowledged Death Eater. He supposed that they had been very lucky. He really didn't want Neville to get expelled.

"I hear you're the new hero of Griffindor," Harry said to Neville with a smile, who made a face and groaned.

* * *

Harry had expected that something would happen after Neville publically accused Snape of being a Death Eater. Neville had served detention for a week. Everyone including Neville thought he got off lightly. But nothing else had changed.

Harry had asked the older Hufflepuffs about it at dinner one day.

"Well Harry, it was not really a secret that Snape was a Death Eater. Dumbledore says he was a spy in the last war. That's why he isn't in Azkaban," Cedric Diggory had explained.

"But spies shouldn't be teaching in a school. And he is doing a terrible job of teaching!" Harry objected.

"I know. But Dumbledore says that he has been teaching for 14 years and nothing has gone wrong so…" Cedric's tone indicated that he did not agree with Dumbledore though.

"The reason Snape is teaching here is because the people who fought against You Know Who think Dumbledore is always right and those who supported You Know Who want Snape to stay here to keep watch on everyone's children," Armand Fawcett said, with disgust.

Cedric blushed at the comment, and Harry realized that it was probably aimed at Cedric's family, who were probably on Dumbledore's side. "You mean they don't care about their children's education?" Harry asked. He shrugged.

"That means we have to do something about it," Harry said firmly.

"Is that an invitation to the firsties potions club?" Armand asked narrowing his eyes.

Harry looked at him speculatively. "Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone," he said to reassure Harry.

"Yes you're invited if you would like to come. And your friends as well," Harry said, and gave some more details about where they met, and how often.

* * *

The tension between the Snape and Neville continued and Harry was worried about Neville passing the exams, at the end of the year. Harry was reasonably sure that Neville would not mess up a Forgetfulness draught, but still, Snape was going to be grading them.

Harry had heard from a couple of Griffindor girls that Snape attacked Neville at every opportunity, and routinely deducted points and made threats.

But Neville told Harry that his Gran said it didn't matter if he was bad at potions. There were lots of apothecaries.

Harry was surprised at her attitude to potions and her grandson's education, but he supposed that there was nothing she could do about Snape, so she was trying to take some pressure off Neville.

* * *

On the day exams were finally over, Harry was again contemplating Sirius Black and how he might help him and Uncle Moony, he almost walked into Neville.

"Neville? What's wrong?" Harry asked seeing his pale face.

"Uh Harry, you remember about the Philosopher's stone, don't you?" Neville said nervously.

"Yes, but why are you so worried?" Harry asked.

"We think Snape is going to steal it today," Neville said.

"Ok?" Harry said, still confused.

"We have to stop him!" Neville said, seeing Harry's lack of reaction.

"But why should we stop him? Tell one of the teachers," Harry replied.

"We told McGonagall, but she didn't take us seriously," Neville mumbled.

"Who is us?" Harry asked.

"Ron and Hermione went with me," he said.

"So you did your job right? You told a teacher that the stone might be stolen. If they don't listen then it's their problem," Harry said trying to convince Neville to leave it alone.

"But he can't get it!" Neville objected.

Harry sighed. "What do you know about the Philosopher's stone?" he asked.

"Uh, it was invented by Nicolas Flamel 600 years ago and it gives eternal life and as much gold as you want," Neville recited as if he was reciting from a book.

"Right, 600 years ago was shortly after a plague in Europe. Almost half the muggle population of Europe had died. Not many magical or muggle discoveries were made in that time," Harry stated. "And what does eternal life and all the gold you want have in common?" Harry asked.

Neville thought about it for a few minutes and said, "I can't think of anything."

"Exactly," Harry said. "They have nothing in common, except that wizards want both of them. So why would a single stone be able to give you both of those unrelated things?"

Neville merely stared at him. Harry thought he was starting to get the point. "Some people say that the Philosopher's stone can give knowledge as well. But if that was true, why don't we have some knowledge from it already. Or from the Flamels? It's supposed to be 600 years old."

"You're saying that the Philosopher's stone is not real? But if that is true, how did the Flamels live so long?" Neville asked.

"We don't really know if they lived that long. The current Flamel could be a descendent of the person who claimed to have made the stone. If you were in that position, would you tell the world that one of your ancestors was a liar?"

"But wouldn't Dumbledore know if the stone isn't real?" Neville asked.

"That's another thing that doesn't make sense. I you had the real Philosopher's stone and had kept it safe for 600 years, would you just give it to someone else? Surely other people have tried to steal it in the past. Why would the Flamels give it to Dumbledore now?"

"So even if the Philosopher's stone is real, the one in the school is probably a fake?" Neville asked.

"I think it's quite unlikely to be real. But yes even if there is a real Philosopher's stone somewhere, it's not here," Harry replied.

Neville seemed to consider that. "You know even if the real stone is at Hogwarts, its Dumbledore's responsibility, not yours. And your life is much more important than any Philosopher's stone," Harry told him firmly.

"Uh, Thanks Harry," Neville said before leaving for his common room. Harry wondered what Ron and Hermione would say about that.

* * *

The day of the leaving feast, Hannah, Susan and Justin were scowling at the green and silver decoration in the Great hall.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked Hannah, as he sat beside the blond girl.

"Slytherin won the house cup again," she said, indicating the green decorations.

"Well, you can't really be surprised. Snape has spent the whole year taking points from every student from any other house for existing. And Neville says he gives points to the Slytherins for turning up on time to Potions class," Harry said.

That had started a fresh round of recriminations about Snape.

"You know it makes no difference right?" Harry asked interrupting them.

"Of course it makes a difference. They won by cheating," Susan said.

"Yes I agree. But there is no actual advantage to winning the house cup," Harry pointed out.

"So, you want us to let them get away with it?" Justin objected. He was still angry.

"If the students were cheating, maybe we could do something about it. But in this case, the Head of Slytherin house is to blame. And the Headmaster is refusing to do anything about him. And, the other heads of house are not objecting either. So I don't see what we can do about it," Harry said.

"But it's not fair!" Hannah exclaimed.

"Life is not fair. Get used to it," he said with a smile.

His friends gave him incredulous looks, but before they could say anything the Headmaster got up to give his speech.

* * *

Harry was happy to be home. But now he couldn't ignore the fact that Uncle Moony was feeling upset and guilty about lying to Mr. Black.

So Harry had come up with an ingenious idea, if he said so himself. He was going to meet Mr. Black. Uncle Moony had not been keen on it at first but Harry thought he would be able to convince him.

"Uncle Moony," Harry said as they sat down with mugs of hot chocolate after dinner.

He gave Harry a knowing look. "What is it this time?" he asked wearily.

"I think I should meet Mr. Black," Harry said again.

"Harry, we have already discussed this. Sirius is still not completely stable. He is prone to mood swings. And he could be violent."

"I know all of that. But you will be with me. And this is the best way we can convince him to use his position as my godfather and the heir to the Black fortune," Harry objected.

"You're not going to tell me that you can take care of yourself?" Uncle Moony asked with raised eyebrows.

"I don't need to. You already know it," Harry said. He had to dodge the cushion that Uncle Moony threw at him.

Uncle Moony was lost in thought for a few minutes and Harry waited in silence. "I really shouldn't be agreeing to this," he finally said. And Harry cheered. "So how are we going to arrange the meeting? We need to make sure Dumbledore doesn't turn up."

Harry smiled. He had already thought about it. In fact he had already written the letter.

* * *

The next day, Sirius Black received a letter. It had been an unremarkable looking letter. But a look at the sender's name had him hyperventilating.

"Moony?" he called.

Remus was watching him carefully. He asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's a letter from Harry. He wants to meet me today. Am I dreaming?" he asked finally tearing his eyes away from the letter.

"Let me see," Remus asked.

It was the same letter that Harry had shown him the previous day. They had gone over it with a fine tooth comb, to make sure it didn't give away any information that they didn't want it to. Remus had mailed it from the Post Office in Diagon Alley before arriving at his friend's house. He wanted to be there to make sure that Sirius would do as the letter said and warn Harry in case he did something stupid. Like calling Dumbledore to the meeting.

Remus read the letter again over Sirius's shoulder.

Dear Mr. Black,

First, I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences for your wrongful imprisonment in Azkaban. My guardians tell me it is the worst place on earth. And I am very sorry that you had to spend ten years there because of the incompetence of the Ministry.

My guardians also mentioned that you are my godfather. We don't socialize much, but they did not want to be responsible for us not knowing each other, so they suggested that I write to you.

As one of my parent's friends I would really like to meet you, and hear more about them. I would also like to know more about you. I have heard you were an Auror, with my father. It sounds like an exciting line of work and I look forward to hearing more about it.

Since we haven't seen each other in ten years, I would like to meet you in person. It would allow us to get to know each other better than just exchanging letters. Would it be possible or you to meet me today at 7 PM at the Square Ball Hotel, Totterham Court Road? (Just ask the receptionist for Harry Potter.) I apologize for the short notice, but now that I know you are my godfather, I find myself impatient to meet you.

But I only want to meet you. I am not particularly keen on meeting the other adults in the wizarding world who were responsible for the first ten years of my life being as miserable as possible. My guardians would be unlikely to restrain themselves if they came in contact with any of these people. They are willing to make an exception for Remus Lupin who was also a friend of my parents and instrumental in getting you out of prison.

I look forward to seeing you,

Yours faithfully,

Harry James Potter.

"Doesn't look like something written by an eleven year old does it?" Remus commented. He hoped that Sirius and the Order would agree that the letter had been ghost written by Harry's guardians. He really didn't want anyone to compare it to how the eleven year olds at Hogwarts wrote.

"It's too formal. Maybe the people who live with Harry wrote it," Sirius said dismissively.

"Sirius, we don't know who kidnapped Harry. This could be a trap," Remus said, trying to gauge what Sirius was going to do.

"I don't care. They want to meet at a muggle hotel. They can't be that bad. Besides we have to go meet Harry," Sirius said firmly.

* * *

"You agree that we can't involve Dumbledore?" Remus asked. They were in Diagon Alley. Sirius was determined to get Harry a gift when he went to visit. Remus suspected that he was going to buy the newest broom on display at Quality Quiddich Supplies.

Harry liked to fly. But if he was asked what he wanted, Remus felt sure he would ask for a book, preferably on advanced potions. But he was not supposed to know Harry. So he made no comment.

Sirius had torn his eyes away from the broom at last and said, "After everything he did, Dumbledore is lucky I haven't hexed him. The people who took Harry, they must have seen what it was like." He got lost in thought again. "Can't blame them for wanting to kill Dumbledore. I feel the same way."

Sirius was uncharacteristically subdued as they bought the broom. "What happened to the muggles?" he asked curiously.

Remus didn't need to ask which muggles he meant. "They were tried in a muggle court for child abuse. The Ministry found a Squib lawyer to try the case. She got the maximum prison sentence. Harry's aunt and uncle are going to serve 10 years each."

Sirius considered that. "Why in a muggle court?" he asked.

"Amelia Bones thought it would be easier to prosecute them under the muggle laws." Remus shrugged, "And they were muggles."

Remus and Sirius apparated to Totterham Court Road, and had no difficulty in finding the right hotel. It was a nice mid-range hotel in London. Remus hoped that the choice would make the Order and Sirius think that the people Harry was living with didn't want to show off their wealth. In reality, it was a much more expensive hotel than Harry or he would ever choose for themselves.

The receptionist had sent them to Room 214 with a key card. Sirius was nervous about meeting Harry for the first time. Remus was worried that something would go wrong. But they were finally standing in front of the door. Sirius looked at Remus once before knocking.

The door was opened by Harry. Sirius and Remus both stared at him.

Sirius was overwhelmed at meeting his godson for the first time. He had pulled Harry into an embrace. But in spite of living with Harry for almost six years, Remus stared at him in shock. He looked so much like James. He put a hand on the doorframe to steady himself.

Ever since they had moved to London, Harry had maintained his new appearance at all times. Remus had not seen Harry's original appearance in almost five years. Seeing a replica of James with Lily's eyes, he felt worried and reassured at the same time.

A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I was travelling and found editing documents on my phone nearly impossible.

Also, Neville seems to have taken over this chapter. I won't apologize for that. In the absence of the Boy Who Lived, he could have become the nominal leader of the Griffindor first years.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry tells Ron and Hermione that he thinks that Dumbledore wanted to see what he would do, if he knew about the stone and that it was in danger. He doesn't think that was wrong, but he is an eleven year old child who has been told that he is "a burden" his whole life. In this story, since Harry Potter is missing, so I think he might try to test Neville. He was the other child the Prophecy could be referring to. And I know Voldermort didn't mark him, but if you're really desperate, you could say that Voldermort's supporters attacking Neville's parents has "marked" him.

Next time: Harry recruits Sirius as a co-conspirator. And the students at Hogwarts are left scratching their heads by a muggleborn speaking Parseltounge.


	7. Chapter 7: New Year, New Problems

Harry was nervous as he invited Mr. Black and Uncle Moony into the room. They both seemed to be surprised by his appearance. Uncle Moony had told him how much he looked like his dead father and Harry thought he must not be exaggerating based on Mr. Black's reaction.

Harry tried to relax, but his hands still shook, as he poured everyone a cup of tea. He had never met anyone as Harry Potter the savior of the wizarding world before. It felt much more like a fake identity than his assumed identity of Harry Carter, the muggleborn wizard.

"Harry, I can't believe I'm really meeting you! Everyone thinks…" Mr. Black trailed off, clearly not wanting to talk about the speculation that Harry was either dead or a Death Eater sympathizer.

"I know what people are saying. Their opinions mean nothing to me," Harry said doing his best impression of a snobbish Pureblood. "What have they ever done for me? What have they ever done for you?" Harry asked deliberately changing the subject. He was also glad that the subject of his life with his muggle relatives had not come up.

"Harry…" Mr. Black objected. Uncle Moony was right. Azkaban had clearly affected the former prisoner. He seemed to be finding it difficult to articulate his thoughts. Or was it his thoughts themselves that were incoherent?

"Didn't wizards leave me with the muggles without even the protection of muggle children's services? They made sure that no one could ever find out how bad my life with them was. So don't tell me that I should care about any of them. And they just threw you into Azkaban because they felt like it. Can they even claim to be a civilized society if they put people in prison without a trial?" Just thinking about it made Harry angry. That was lucky because his anger would make the rehearsed speech sound real.

Harry took a sip of his tea. He wanted to see how Mr. Black would react, before he started on the next part of his plan.

"You… you're right, Harry. They wizarding world has wronged both of us. But we can't just switch sides because of it," Mr. Black said, in a surprisingly conciliatory tone.

Harry looked at Uncle Moony, who also seemed surprised. He had an answer to this objection of course. "We don't have to switch sides. We gather support for our own side. Protect our interests," he told Mr. Black.

"But what can I do?" Mr. Black asked, clearly startled by how ambitious Harry's last statement was.

"You can do a lot of things. You were wrongly put into prison for ten years. You would get a lot of sympathy for that. You can use that to campaign for criminal justice reform. The government can't really refuse right now," Harry said and he nodded, thoughtfully. "And you can get compensation from the Ministry for your wrongful imprisonment," Harry continued.

"I don't need the money," Mr. Black immediately objected.

"I know. And that would work in your favor too. You can donate all the money you get from the Ministry to some good cause. That would make you more popular with the public," Harry explained.

"I thought you didn't care what people thought?" Mr. Black asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh I don't. But public opinion is quite useful in getting the government to do what you want them to do," Harry replied with a smile.

Mr. Black looked impressed. Harry was only telling him to do what muggle politicians did all the time. It was hardly a new idea. "Oh this is great!" Mr. Black said laughing. "What do you think Moony? We can play a prank on the Ministry of Magic!"

Uncle Moony rolled his eyes, but didn't reply.

"Come on Moony, don't be a spoilsport," Mr. Black said nudging Uncle Moony. Then he turned to Harry and said, "You're full of good ideas. What else can we do?" His mood seemed to have improved since Harry told him about the "prank" he could play on the Ministry of Magic.

"Well, you can have the people who sent you to prison and those who were in positions of power at the time investigated. They could have an ulterior motive for not putting you on trial," Harry said. He thought Mr. Black would be justified in getting revenge against them. They had taken away ten years of his life and damaged his health and mind. In the muggle world he could have taken them to court and bankrupted them. At least.

Mr. Black laughed uproariously at that. "That's an even better idea! I can just see Crouch being interrogated by the Aurors he used to command. Too bad old Bagnold is dead."

"On a more serious note, you need to take control of my family's fianances. If we are going to attack the Ministry, they can't be allowed to control my money," Harry said pointing out a boring but still important part of his plan.

Mr. Black assured him that he was taking care of it.

"And you need to get appointed to the Wizengamot, if possible," Harry said.

Mr. Black made a face. "Why would I do that?" he objected.

"Because the Wizengamot holds a lot of power. And if you are on it, you could get a lot of laws changed. And if you don't get appointed to the Wizengamot, new laws might be made by someone you don't agree with."

"Why do you have to always be right?" Mr. Black asked sulkily.

Harry merely smiled. He understood that being on the Wizengamot was boring, but it would be incredibly useful. Of course, he was not optimistic about Mr. Black being nominated or elected. He had spent ten years in prison and even his supporters would have to agree that his mind had been affected.

"Now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, I have a present for you," Mr. Black said enthusiastically. He pulled out a new broom from his small bag. Harry was more interested in the expansion charm on the bag than the new toy. But Harry still thanked him graciously for the gift.

"Do you like Quiddich?" Mr. Black asked.

"I like to fly, and I have watched some Quiddich," Harry replied carefully. He didn't want to lie about such a mundane topic. If he told too many lies, he would eventually lose track of them.

"With the new Nimbus Two Thousand and One you'll be unstoppable," Mr. Black said. And Harry looked closer at the broom. He had thought it was just a new toy, but if it was the latest model it was more expensive than he had thought. "…And you'll be a second year, so you can have your own broom," he was still saying.

Harry decided to correct Mr. Black's assumption immediately. "I'm sorry you have misunderstood Mr. Black. I will NOT be going to Hogwarts. And in case it was not clear, I will continue to live with my current guardians."

Mr. Black stared at him with his mouth open. When he finally regained the ability to speak, he said, "But Harry, you can't live alone like this. Nobody even knows who you live with! I'm your godfather. I'm supposed to take care of you."

Uncle Moony had warned Harry that this would come up. Harry had argued that Mr. Black didn't sound like someone who wanted to deal with a child. But unfortunately Uncle Moony was right. Mr. Black really wanted Harry to live with him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Black, but I am happy with my current guardians. And I expect the Ministry of Magic will charge them with kidnapping, if their identities were known. So I can't tell you who they are," Harry said.

"But Harry…" Mr. Black objected.

Harry interrupted immediately. "I know that you are my legal guardian, but I don't know you at all. So I don't feel comfortable living with you. We can become friends if you agree to leave things as they are. But if you try to use force, this will be the last time we meet."

Harry was tense as Mr. Black considered his argument and the threat to cut off contact with him. Uncle Moony watched him nervously as well.

"All right, Harry." Mr. Black said wearily. He looked upset, but Harry was relieved.

"Thank you for understanding, Mr. Black," Harry said sincerely.

"No need to thank me Harry. And call me Sirius. Mr. Black makes me sound old," he said trying and failing to sound lighthearted.

* * *

Uncle Moony had told Harry the next day that Mr. Black, or Sirius as he was allowed to call him now, was impressed with him.

He had already started working on the things Harry mentioned and seemed to be in a better mood. But he was still upset at being told that his godson considered him a stranger and didn't fully trust him.

Well there was nothing that harry could do about that now. They had planned to tell Sirius the truth eventually. He just hoped it would not cause too many problems between Uncle Moony and Sirius.

* * *

Remus was standing in the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Sirius had allowed his parents' old house to be used for the Order of the Phoenix to meet.

Dumbledore walked through the door and took a seat at the head of the table. In Sirius's house, that could be interpreted as disrespect. Remus would not have noticed if Harry had not pointed out many of the small things that gave Dumbledore power he shouldn't have.

But Sirius didn't seem to notice the implied disrespect. He sat down in a random chair and the meeting began.

"What's this about the Defense professor dying at Hogwarts?" Mad Eye Moody asked, before Dumbledore could dictate the agenda.

Remus noticed that Minerva stiffened. "He was possessed and his death was a side effect of the spirit leaving his body," Dumbledore said calmly as if they were discussing the weather.

"And what was possessing him?" Moody asked, staying on the topic.

"We are not sure about that, since we were unable to detain the spirit," Dumbledore replied seemingly unconcerned.

Moody narrowed his eyes but asked no further questions. Remus thought that a spirit possessing a Hogwarts professor was a major breach in security, but he didn't want to attract attention to himself.

When no one else spoke, Dumbledore started on the topic he was really keen on, "We are here because Harry has made contact with Sirius."

There was instant uproar. Sirius had a superior expression on his face, like he did when he had pulled off a prank. He waited for silence before he spoke.

"Harry wrote me a letter saying he would meet me and Remus in a muggle hotel. We spoke to him yesterday evening. He is in good health and happy," Sirius said with a pointed look at Dumbledore.

"But if you met him surely you asked him to live with you!" Minerva exclaimed.

"How could you let him go back to those kidnappers!" Molly Weasley objected.

A few others were also expressing their opinions at the same time. And it was difficult to understand anything.

"Harry is happy with the people he is living with. And he doesn't know me well enough to come and live with me," Sirius told them what Harry had said in reply to the same question. Remus felt guilty, but he was not willing to risk Harry to make Sirius feel better.

"If you don't want him, we can take him in!" Molly Weasley said. Remus thought she was really missing the point.

But that was exactly the wrong thing to say, because Sirius had his wand pointed at her, "What did you say Molly?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.

Fortunately, Mr. Weasley had restrained his wife and Dumbledore had stepped in front of Sirius. Remus noted idly that Snape was not in the room. He thought that was a very good idea considering the topic being discussed.

"Sirius, you have to agree that it is not wise to leave Harry with people we know nothing about," Dumbleodre was saying. And Remus knew once again that that was again the wrong thing to say.

"You should have thought of that when you dumped my godson on those disgusting muggles who tortured him," Sirius spat. "Don't you dare lecture me on what I can and can't do. Harry is my responsibility and you have no right to make any decisions about him. You've done enough damage already," Sirius said angrily, before getting up to pace the length of the room.

Remus had expected more arguments, but Dumbledore said nothing. He was uncharacteristically subdued. He allowed the topic to drop. Remus was relieved to see that Sirius refused to tell the Order what he discussed with Harry.

The only other thing of interest they discussed was whether Sirius ad Remus knew anything about Harry's kidnappers. And they had both said that other than the fact that they seemed to want Harry to have a relationship with his godfather, they knew nothing. And so the meeting had ended and all of the guests left with less information than they would like.

* * *

Sirius and Remus met often to discuss their plans. Remus noted that Sirius was in a much better mood, while he planned his revenge against the Wizengamot and Crouch.

And he had successfully gained control over all the fianancial holdings of the Potter family. Remus was relieved to note that nobody had stolen anything from Harry. Although he had to admit that stealing was not really Dumbledore's style. He could get almost anything by asking nicely.

Remus also tried to spend as much time as possible with Harry, since he would be going to school after the summer break. It was hectic, but he was happier than he had ever been in his life. Even happier than he was at Hogwarts with his three best friends.

But soon summer came to an end and Harry was off to school. Remus tried not to worry too much as Harry carried his trunk onto the Hogwarts Express. The possessed professor was dead. And his replacement was incompetent but harmless in Harry's opinion. Not uncommon for a Defense Professor. Everything would be fine, he told himself.

* * *

A few weeks into the second year and Harry had already noticed some changes. There was increased hostility towards muggleborns in the school. Draco Malfoy took every opportunity to call muggleborns "mudblood", which he usually ignored, but others like Justin and Hermione found offensive or upsetting.

Harry had tried to explain to Justin, Susan and Hannah that he didn't care enough about Malfoy's opinion to be offended by what he said. And that there was no way to tell the difference between muggleborns and purebloods using blood. So Malfoy's insult was absurd.

Although his friends were unhappy, they had agreed to not fight with Malfoy, which would only lead to trouble.

Harry later found out from Uncle Moony that the reason Death Eater sympathisers were so angry was because Sirius was pushing a law in the Wizengamot that would allow non magical relatives to inherit property and gold from dead family members. Harry was outraged to hear that the current laws made it very difficult for squib children and other non magical relatives to inherit anything in the wizarding world. He whole heartedly supported the new law.

He also made sure to tell Susan, Justin and Hannah, what Malfoy was upset about. The next time he called Harry "mudblood", Hannah pointedly asked him, "Why are you so angry? Worried about losing your family fortune to a squib uncle Malfoy?"

Things only escalated from there. Malfoy drew his wand and pointed it at Hannah. Harry had her out of the way even before he had cast a spell. He dragged the both to their feet before Malfoy could cast another spell at them. And Professor Snape walked into the corridor at exactly the wrong time.

"What is going on here?" he asked Malfoy.

"Professor, they were insulting my family!" Malfoy said heatedly.

"I did not," Hannah protested.

Harry tried to not laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Hannah could argue that having a squib in the family was not an insult, although Malfoy would definitely be offended by the implication.

"I only asked Mr. Malfoy if he was worried about losing his family fortune to a distant relative," Hannah said. Harry had to really try not to laugh at that. She was technically not lying. And when phrased like that it did not sound particularly insulting. Hannah could be a great lawyer.

Snape apparently didn't see any way to deduct points from Hufflepuff or give any of them detention. So he told them to stop wasting time in the corridors and go to their classes. Harry took it as a win.

* * *

When some Griffindors had started repeating Hannah's implication that a Malfoy squib was going to appear to claim the family fortune, Draco Malfoy was much less inclined to insult muggleborns. Susan had explained that a lot of people hated the Malfoy family, and would take every opportunity to insult them.

The situation was not ideal, but at least the muggleborns were not being insulted as often.

* * *

But things took a turn for the worse on Halloween. As he walked back to the common room with his house mates he heard some strange voice saying "Rip", "Tear" and "Kill". Harry could see that he was the only one hearing the strange voice, and wisely decided against confiding in anyone.

And the next day, they heard that Filch's cat was petrified and there was a threat about the Chamber of Secrets written above her body. Harry wondered how anyone could do such a thing. He had no idea what spell or object could have been used in the attack. So he started researching pertification in the library.

Apparently a lot of things could put a person or animal in a comatose state. Potions like the Draught of Living Death, or certain poisons could be responsible for what happened to the unfortunate cat. But Harry suspected that this was something else. Firstly, they would have been able to detect the potions in the cat's blood. And Mandrake restorative draught was very expensive, and they would have to wait months to brew it. So if it was just a potion, making the specific antidote would be a better solution. The fact that they were going to use mandrakes meant that they didn't know what was going on.

* * *

Harry was walking back from the Great Hall after dinner one evening, when Neville stopped him and said he wanted to talk. Harry was worried because he looked nervous and slightly guilty.

They walked into a small classroom and Harry shut and locked the door. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Hermione is suspicious because my swelling solution was better than anyone else in the class," Neville said in a rush.

"Didn't you tell them that you practiced over the summer?" Harry asked. He couldn't understand why Hermione was suspicious.

"Yes, but I used your modified recipe, and I finished fifteen minutes before everyone else. Even Snape was suspicious," Neville said hanging his head.

Harry resisted the urge to curse aloud. He had warned everyone that they had to delay starting the potion and add their ingredients slower than they normally would, because the modified recipe took less time. But it was inevitable that someone forgot.

"It's all right Neville. Finishing your potion early isn't that suspicious. And you have improved because of the extra practice," Harry said trying to be reassuring.

"But Hermione thinks I cheated and Ron is upset with me because I didn't tell him what I was doing, while we were making the potion," Neville said almost in tears.

Harry wanted to tell him that he should be more worried about what Snape thought, but instead he said, "You can tell them about our study group. If they agree to keep the secret, bring them to the next meeting. If they want to come, I mean."

"Thank you! Thank you Harry!" Neville gushed.

Harry waved off his thanks. He understood that Neville didn't have a lot of friends and he wanted to stay on good terms with the few he did have. He just hoped that Hermione Granger would not be foolish enough to tell Snape about their study group.

* * *

The first meeting with Ron and Hermione proved to be as contentious as Harry expected.

The people already in the room had only spared them a casual glance as they entered the room. New members joined the group all the time and they weren't doing anything that was strictly against the school rules.

Harry had barely said "Good evening," when Hermione started objecting to his modification of the "official" recipe for the Swelling solution, going so far as to call it cheating.

"Why do you think modifying the recipe is cheating?" Harry asked. He had never even considered that.

"Because you were following a different recipe from the one in the book," she said, as if it was obvious.

"I heard that Ron did not add one of the ingredients mentioned in the official recipe, but you didn't accuse him of cheating," Harry said indicating Ron.

Ron flushed when his mistake was pointed out. Hermione replied, "Of course he didn't cheat. He just made a mistake."

"Yes, but he also followed a different recipe from what was printed in the book," Harry pointed out.

"It's only cheating if you do it on purpose!" Hermione objected indignantly.

By now a lot of the other people in the room were listening to the argument. Harry only nodded to Hermione seeming to concede the point. But he asked her, "Do you know who wrote the recipe for the swelling solution?"

Hermione replied that of course it was the author of the book.

"No it isn't. This is an old recipe that was taken from a book called Dark and Darker. It was originally published in the 17th century. It's in the restricted section in the library, so I have not yet read it," Harry replied.

Hermione seemed to be surprised by this revelation. "But if it's in the restricted section, it must have some Dark Potions," she said almost to herself.

"Well a swelling solution is hardly something you want to add to your morning cup of tea," Harry said pointing out the obvious.

"But if it's a Dark potion, why are we learning it?" Neville asked.

"Because it's not particularly dangerous, and it has some ingredients and brewing techniques that the Department of Education thinks 12 year olds need to learn," Harry said casually.

And maybe some girls would like to add a little swelling solution to their lipstick? But he was not about to mention such a dangerous idea even as a joke.

"But if it's a Dark potion…" Hermione started saying both outraged and confused.

"I already said it's not dangerous. Its effects wear off in a few hours, and any swelling it causes is quite painful, so it is impossible to be under its effects without realizing it. Also it has a simple antidote called the Deflating Draught," Harry told them, trying to end the discussion about "Dark" potions. He didn't want to have that discussion yet.

Everyone seemed to be considering his words, but Harry needed to bring the discussion back to the original topic. "I don't know what the original recipe said, but our textbook has a slightly modified version, like a few other potions books. I have the differences between them here," Harry said giving her his handout for the swelling solution.

Ron looked interested as he read over her shoulder. Harry could see his thoughts as if they were written on his face. The handout had all the information he would need for the homework essay. It would mean he wouldn't have to spend time in the library looking up anything. Harry hoped that would mean he would keep their secret.

"But this has all the information for the homework essay!" Hermione objected.

Harry held out his hand to take the paper back. "You don't have to read it if you don't want to," he told her.

She made no move to return it. "You can't just give out answers to the homework essay like this," she said clearly outraged.

"I did not do all the research you see on that handout. We all work on potions we find interesting or useful," Harry said indicating the whole group. "We then put everything we have on each potion together and make one of those handouts."

Hermione seemed torn. She clearly wanted to read everything Harry had compiled on the potions they had studied and would study for the rest of the year. But she also didn't agree with how they dealt with the distribution of labour.

"Who teaches the older students?" Hermione asked, changing the subject. There were students from first to fourth year in the room. A lot of them were from Hufflepuff, but Griffindor and Ravenclaw were represented too. Harry didn't trust any Slytherins to not betray them to Snape if they felt they had something to gain. So they were noticeably absent.

"I already told you, nobody teaches anyone. We all work together on potions we find interesting," Harry said.

"But there are fourth years here!" Hermione objected.

Yes there were fourth years. Two of them were Ron's older brothers. Who were surprisingly being quiet. But Harry didn't want to talk about this right now.

"We are a study group that is open to everyone. We don't discriminate based on year. The only criteria for joining is that you don't disrupt our work. So are you here to brew a potion or to argue about our methods?" Harry asked.

And so Hermione Granger joined the Potions study group. Harry decided to keep her away from the first years, so that the impressionable young children wouldn't be discouraged by how little they knew compared to her and more importantly, wouldn't try to make Hermione do their work for them.

One of the twins motioned for him and he walked over to them to discuss their latest creation. Harry had been surprised to find that they were the best potion makers in the group. They hated Snape, and didn't care about most of the potions in the textbooks. That had meant that they barely passed their potions class every year. They also had a reputation for not taking anything seriously. But they were serious about starting a joke shop and the potions and antidotes they would need for their products. And Harry was going to do everything he could to help them.

* * *

Harry had not been able to dedicate as much time to research the Chamber of Secrets as he wanted, but all that changed after the disastrous dueling club that Lockhart and Snape had hosted.

He was supposed to duel Malfoy, who had conjured a snake. Then it turned out that Harry could talk to snakes. At first he thought it was lucky, because he had stopped the snake from attacking Justin. But as Hannah and Susan had pointed out, once they were safe in the Hufflepuff common room, being able to talk to snakes was a "Dark" ability, associated with Slytherin.

How was Harry supposed to navigate the minefield that was the wizarding world, he wondered. He had not even known that he could talk to snakes. And now people were speculating whether he, a muggleborn, was trying to kill other muggleborns in the school. Apparently, some people thought he was a descendent of Slytherin in disguise as a muggleborn. Well they were right about him being in disguise, so he supposed he couldn't be too upset about the rumors surrounding him.

* * *

Just when Harry thought things couldn't get worse, Justin had been petrified along with a ghost. They had been assured that he would be fine. As soon as the Mandrakes matured, Justin would be given a Mandrake restorative draught, and he would wake up. But that was not good enough.

Harry decided that he was going to get to the bottom of this mystery as soon as possible, even if he had to serve detention for not finishing his homework. Whoever had petrified Justin had to be stopped at any cost.

* * *

A/N: Once again thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story.

I was travelling again last week, which is my excuse for the delay with this chapter. But I plan to post the next one soon.

What do you guys think about the meeting between Sirius and Harry? And about the disagreement with Hermione about modifying Potions recipes? Do you think Harry helping Neville and working with the twins on new potions is interesting or does it seem like a boring subplot? I do have a reason for mentioning them here, but I want to know what you guys think.

Next time: Harry investigates the chamber of secrets.


	8. Chapter 8: The Third Front

Chapter 8: Secrets of the Chamber

Harry had used his Metamorphmagus ability to escape his overprotective friends. He started with the library. All he could find in the various books on Hogwarts and Salazar Slytherin were myths about a secret chamber that Slytherin had hidden in the school, which contained a monster. Even the other founders didn't know about it.

He also found out there were no obvious candidates for Heir of Slytherin. The last descendent he could find was Merope Gaunt, who had lived in the early years of the twentieth century and believed to be dead. For some reason she and her family had not attended Hogwarts. But he had not been able to find any references to her death. So it was possible that she was actually alive and was responsible for the attacks.

The only thing his research had confirmed was that Malfoy and most of the other Purebloods who were against muggleborns were not descendents of Slytherin.

Harry had then moved on to old newspapers. He wanted to know if any previous attacks were attributed to the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.

It had taken a few weeks, and his homework had suffered. But he did find some articles about how a student called Myrtle was attacked by whatever was in the Chamber. Harry couldn't believe his luck. She was a ghost in the castle! He could speak to her and ask her what had happened.

But he wondered who else might have been attacked and how the attacks had been stopped last time. He was nothing if not thorough.

To his surprise, Harry found out that Myrtle was the only student attacked the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. And Hagrid was believed to have been the person responsible. But for whatever reason, the authorities had decided that snapping his wand was sufficient punishment for killing a student.

Harry wanted to bang his head against the library table. If Hagrid was really responsible, he should be serving a life sentence in Azkaban and if he was not responsible then he should have been allowed to finish his education.

And there was something else in the article that accused Hagrid, that caught his attention. The Head Boy, who had been given an award for special services to the school, was called Tom Marvolo Riddle. Marvolo was Merope Gaunt's father's name. Was it possible that this boy was related to her?

Harry decided it was time to visit Moaning Myrtle.

Harry ran back to the library from the second floor girls' bathroom. How was it possible that nobody had talked to a dead girl's ghost when they were investigating her death? How had Myrtle's teachers and the Aurors missed this?

In the library, Harry went straight to the section on dangerous creatures. His knowledge of magical creatures was mediocre at best. But Myrtle had told him that a boy had spoken a foreign language before she was killed. And that whatever had killed her was a creature with yellow eyes.

So Harry was quite confident that the creature was a snake of some sort and the Heir of Slytherin had spoken to it in Parseltongue. He didn't think it was too much of a leap of faith that Tom Marvolo Riddle was related to Marvolo Gaunt and his daughter Merope. Which would make him the Heir of Slytherin.

Now all he needed to do was find a snake that was capable of petrifying it's victims.

Harry returned to his dorm room, closed his curtains and cast some spells to make sure he would not be disturbed. He then opened the notebook he used to communicate with Uncle Moony.

Harry: Uncle Moony, I know what is attacking the muggleborn students at Hogwarts.

Remus: What?

Harry could just imagine the expression Uncle Moony would have at this revelation. He would never boast about it of course, but he was proud of himself for finding the solution to the mystery that had the whole wizarding world stumped.

H: It's a magical snake called a Basilisk.

R: A what!

R: There's a Basilisk in the school! You can't stay there. You're pretending to be a muggleborn. That snake can kill with its gaze!

Harry tried to calm Uncle Moony.

H: Don't worry. All my house mates have decided that I need to be escorted everywhere by all of them. I'll be fine. Besides it's only three days to the Christmas holidays.

R: You're right. But don't go anywhere alone. And don't make any unnecessary trips out of your common room even with your friends.

H: Yes Uncle Moony. I'll be very careful. But you need to tell the Aurors about this.

R: You're right. But how did you find out? Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers have no idea.

Harry proceeded to explain everything his investigation in the library had uncovered.

* * *

Remus read his conversation with Harry again. He couldn't believe it. When Harry explained everything, it all made sense. Harry made it sound so easy, so obvious. How had nobody ever asked Myrtle about the attack on her? Why didn't Dumbledore investigate all of this when the first student was attacked?

He started writing a letter to Madam Bones. She had been impressed with him since he had sent her the letter about Sirius being innocent. She would take him seriously.

Dear Madam Bones,

I would like to thank you once again for your help in clearing my friend Sirius Black of the false accusations against him and getting him out of Azkaban. But I need your help once again on an important matter.

As you might be aware, two muggleborn Hogwarts students, Colin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley were petrified at the school. In light of these attacks I thought it my duty to bring a few things to your attention.

The first is that the Chamber of Secrets was opened at least once before this academic year. A student called Myrtle was killed in the attack. She haunts the castle to this day. She told me many years ago, that when she died, she heard a boy enter the second floor bathroom and speak a foreign language. I believe that language was Parseltongue. She then saw a creature with yellow eyes and died. That creature is most likely to be a Basilisk, that can kill with its gaze.

The reason the two students were petrified was because they did not see the eyes of the basilisk directly. Mr. Creevey saw them through his camera and Mr. Finch-Fletchley saw the eyes through a ghost.

I hope this information helps your investigation, since I am most concerned for the safety of the young witches and wizards studying at Hogwarts. I have every confidence in the Auror office and I thank you in advance for your efforts to ensure the safety of the students at Hogwarts.

Yours faithfully,

Remus Lupin

Remus read through the letter again. He was a little nervous about lying to the Head of the DMLE, but Harry assured him that Myrtle must have told a lot of students the story of her death. She seemed quite excited to talk about it with Harry. So his lie would probably not arouse too much suspicion.

He was also not happy about the fact that he was taking credit for something that Harry had done. But they needed to send this information to Madam Bones, and Harry could not afford to send the letter under his own name. That would draw too much attention to him.

He couldn't wait to have Harry safely home. And if that basilisk was not dealt with by the time the holidays ended, Harry was not going back to school.

* * *

The students at Hogwarts had heard that the DMLE was going to deal with the chamber of secrets over the holidays. But there was a lot of speculation about how they were going to do it.

Nobody at the school had any idea what was going on. Harry noted with satisfaction that even Dumbledore didn't seem to know.

Everyone was sent home, or at least out of the school over the Christmas holidays. Only Dumbledore and a few teachers who wanted to participate in disposing off Slytherin's monster were staying at the school. The DMLE was going to send Aurors to the school the day after the students reached home.

Two days after Harry had gone home, he read the Daily Prophet, after uncle Moony was done with it. The headline proclaimed, **Basilisk petrifying Hogwarts students killed by Aurors**.

Madam Bones had entered the Chamber of Secrets with a rooster and several Aurors and Hogwarts teachers. The rooster had killed the giant snake. And she had even told the reporters that Remus Lupin had put together the clues about the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry couldn't be happier. Everything had gone to plan. Not only had the monster that was terrorizing the school been killed, he had also improved Uncle Moony's credibility in the wizarding world. Harry knew that he really wanted to live in the wizarding world. The only reason he worked in the muggle world was because a few Notice Me Not and Confundus charms would allow his absences from work at the full moon to go unnoticed. Since Harry had managed to convince Uncle Moony to fake a college degree, and work in a fianancial services company, he was also paid relatively well. But Harry knew he found the job boring.

An owl landed in front of Uncle Moony. He took the letter and read it quickly.

"Madam Bones says thank you for information on the basilisk," he said.

"Aren't you going to say thank you again for killing the giant snake?" Harry asked.

Uncle Moony wrote a quick reply and sent it back with the owl.

The rest of the Christmas holidays had been uneventful. And soon he was on the train back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Harry considered his next move. He had a letter already written and duplicated. He was planning to send it out once he was back at the castle. But he knew Uncle Moony was going to be upset. This was going to bring a lot of attention to him. But Harry knew this was necessary.

He had planned to make friends first. Gain the trust of his fellow students, while he gathered information on the wizarding world and the people in it. But the increase in attacks on muggleborn students made him realize how bad the situation really was. And the fact that someone had tried to kill muggleborns at Hogwarts meant that he didn't have time. He had to act right now.

Harry knew that just being friends with his classmates would not be enough. He would need political allies and people who would fight with him against supporters of Voldermort. And nobody would take such risks for an ordinary muggleborn wizard. He needed to be extraordinary. He had to be respected.

Harry had told Sirius he intended to give people a third option. But if he expected people to join him over such formidable wizards as Dumbledore and Voldermort, he would need to need to give them a reason to follow him and if possible, attack his rivals.

As a muggleborn, Harry could not expect to peel off any of Voldermort's supporters. But Dumbleodre was weaker than he had ever been in his long and mostly successful career. He had lost the Boy Who Lived a few years ago and served as Chief Warlock, while an innocent man had been sent to Azkaban without a trial. So Harry had decided to launch his first attack against him.

Considering that he was living under an alias, he was suitably worried about attracting attention. But it would be very difficult for someone to unmask him. After all he was not using any of the common methods of wizarding disguise.

It was an acceptable risk Harry decided. He would send the letters from Hogwarts.

* * *

In preparation of his attack on Dumbledore, Harry had spoken to Professor Sprout. If he was going to draw attention to himself, he needed to make his Potions study group a formal club. He had been lucky and she had agreed to act as their faculty advisor, and even offered her help as an expert on Herbology.

Two days after reaching Hogwarts, Harry had sent his letters to the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly and the Quibbler. To his surprise, they had been printed in all three publications. And the reactions from his fellow students had not disappointed. Some had shaken his hand or congratulated him. Some had expressed surprise at the opinions he had expressed, and some had even attacked him.

Harry thanked everyone who commented on his Letters to the Editor, because he wanted to know how they were being received. He wanted to hear different opinions to make sure that he wouldn't miss anything important.

There was a copy of the Prophet next to him at the breakfast table. His letter had actually been printed on the front page, under the headline, **Snape and Dumbledore sabotaging education at Hogwarts**.

The article read,

Yesterday the Daily Prophet received an open letter from a student at Hogwarts that made the sensational claim that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Potions Master Severus Snape are acting against the interests of their students. The letter is printed below in its entirety for concerned parents and former students to judge for themselves.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I write this letter to you as a last resort, after making numerous complaints against Professor Snape, who teaches at Hogwarts, the school I attend.

I have complained about the above mentioned Professor, along with my classmates, to my Head of House, who promised to take the matter to the Headmaster. She informed us later that the Headmaster would "look into" the matter. But nothing has changed and she told us that complaints against Professor Snape are usually ignored.

This is highly unprofessional. Since Professor Snape is paid a salary, and the students attending Hogwarts are the source of the funds, I would expect that multiple complaints against him would at least lead to an investigation.

Next we complained directly to the Headmaster. In reply to the letter signed by all the students in my year in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, the Headmaster wrote that he had spoken to Professor Snape and everything was fine. But in our opinion nothing had changed. We then complained to the Board of Governors, who have ignored two of our letters. So I am writing an open letter to the most widely circulated publications in the wizarding world, hoping you can help.

I have several complaints against Professor Snape. The first potion he instructed us to brew was the Boil Cure Potion. I am sure you know what it is and that it is not particularly complicated. The only thing that the brewer needs to know to brew it successfully is that you must remove it from the flames before adding Porcupine Quills. It is surprisingly robust against any other mistakes a brewer might make.

But Professor Snape did not mention this fact when my class brewed the potion. He also did not mention it during the other first year class he taught in 1991 or any of the classes he has taught since 1988. This simple oversight has at least contributed to nine students getting burned or otherwise injured in the last five years, by the boil cure potion alone.

There are a large number of accidents in Potions classes on a regular basis. My Ravenclaw- Hufflepuff class has had four accidents already this year, where one or more students had to go to the hospital wing to be treated for injuries. The other second year class has had eleven potions accidents during the same time.

But the large number of accidents in his class is not the only problem. He feels the need to insult students on a regular basis. During his first class, he told us outright that he considered most of his students to be "dunderheads". While it was clearly menat to be an insult, I have been unable to understand exactly what he means by it, since my Oxford English Dictionary doesn't mention the word. I have of course not asked him directly, since asking questions in his classes always results in loss of house points for any student who dares to speak.

On various occasions Professor Snape has threatened to test potions on students, which should be illegal, if it isn't already. He also has the unfortunate habit of not noticing that students are in the middle of a step which requires concentration, like counting the number of times they have stirred clockwise. He often interrupts students in the middle of such important steps with anything from comments on their supposed incompetence, or something their parents have allegedly done twenty years ago. I don't see how he can be so oblivious to his surroundings, but we all have our faults, I suppose.

As much as all of this upsets me, the most alarming thing I found was an article in the Daily Prophet published on 2nd November 1981, that mentions unambiguously that the Ministry of Magic had testimony from multiple wizards, that Mr. Severus Snape brewed Polyjuice Potion that allowed the Death Eater Evan Rosier to enter the Ministry of Magic and kill three employees in the Department of Mysteries. Mr. Rosier is serving a life sentence in Azkaban after his conviction by the Wizengamot, but I was unable to find any records for the trial that acquitted Mr. Snape of wrongdoing, or any evidence that proves that he was not complicit in this crime.

Professor Snape teaches all the Hogwarts students two classes each week, for at least five years. That is long enough for most students to believe that they are worse at Potion making than they actually are, because he accuses everyone of incompetence on a regular basis. He also regularly insults students when it catches his fancy.

As a result, in the fourteen years he has been teaching, there has been a seventy percent drop in students who get a NEWT level qualification in Potions, as compared to the fourteen years before he taught. And the drop in numbers is further compounded by the fact that the classes currently at Howarts are some of the smallest in history.

This is a problem not only for the students who want to become Aurors, Healers or something else requiring a NEWT in potions, but for our society. There are fewer Aurors and Healers now than there were seventeen years ago. But there is an even bigger problem. Since most people who studied Potions with Professor Snape either believe they are incapable of brewing potions, or hate the exercise, they don't brew any potions at all. This means that there is a higher demand for potions from apothecaries.

But there are also fewer people qualified and willing to brew potions professionally, and the apothecaries are struggling to find brewers. This has driven up prices. A vial of potion to cure a fever now costs four times what it costed ten years ago. Most people can still afford potions, but if an entire family falls ill and requires multiple potions to recover, it makes a severe dent in their savings.

In light of all these facts, I have to wonder why Professor Dumbledore is ignoring complaints against his Potions Professor. Is it because he doesn't care about the quality of education at Hogwarts? Or is there some other reason that I have missed?

Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore, who insists on protecting him, are not just damaging our academic careers, they are threatening to make healing potions a luxury for the rich. If Professor Snape continues to teach the next generation like he has the previous one, Potion making could become as obscure as Occlumency and Legilemency. (If you have to ask what they are, you are clearly not one of the very wealthy families that can afford tutors in these subjects.)

Thank you for reading.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Carter.

* * *

Uncle Moony had been understandably upset by Harry's latest stunt. He had expected it. But he had managed to calm him down eventually. He just hoped Uncle Moony wouldn't still be upset when he went home for the summer holidays.

There had been some fallout from his letter to the newspaper. But Snape was still teaching, and Harry wanted to pull out his hair.

The day his letter had been published, everyone at the school was talking about it. Everyone was surprised at how few students got NEWTs in potions. But the fact that Snape insulted and threatened students was already well known. Students expressed their outrage, but their parents were unwilling to do anything about it.

Harry realized belatedly that he had not made any suggestions to improve the situation. He had assumed the answer was obvious. Replace Snape with a competent teacher, who was not a criminal. But finding someone qualified to teach Potions was not going to be an easy task.

Neville told him Dumbledore had used that as an excuse to not get rid of Snape immediately. And everyone had forgotten the article in a few weeks. Dumbledore had also made an announcement at dinner a few days after the letter was published to say that he trusted Professor Snape. Whatever that was supposed to mean. Did he mean he trusted Snape to be a good teacher or did he trust Snape to not commit mass murder in one of his classes?

Dumbledore had patronizingly told them that he would look into the low numbers of students who got NEWTs in Potions, and that he had spoken with Professor Snape about the complaints. Harry wanted to scream objections at Dumbledore, but he knew that would only get him into detention.

Harry had to admit that he had lost this round. So he did the only thing he could. He told Hannah to stay away from him in Potions for a while. There was going to be hell to pay, the next time he was in Professor Snape's class.

* * *

Harry walked into his next Potions class, trying not to show his nervousness. His friends had refused to distance themselves from him, but Harry had pointed out that it would only irritate him more if Snape targeted them because of him. He boldly took a table in the front of the class, while his friends walked to their usual places.

As soon as Snape entered the room he started asking questions. "Carter, what is the main ingredient in anti-inflammatory potions?"

"Essence of Murtlap, sir," Harry replied. The question was completely unrelated to the potion they were going to make.

He asked a few more unrelated questions. Harry considered not answering some of the obscure ones, but he didn't want to find out what would happen if he couldn't answer. When Snape finally gave up on catching him out, Harry started making his potion. He had always made sure that his essays would not stand out too much and he never used any modified recipes in Snape's class. He also never raised his hand to answer questions in any class, not just potions. So Snape must have assumed that he was just an average student who was good at following instructions. He was expecting to make Harry look like a fool by asking him all those obscure questions. But now that Harry had answered all of them, he was going to attack him some other way.

Snape tried Legilenency, but he was not particularly persistent. Well, Harry had mentioned Occlumency in the Letter to the Editor, so the fact that he knew it should not come as a surprise. Snape lurked near him, but said nothing and Harry was starting to worry. The lack of insults meant he was going to do something worse.

Half way through the class, Harry realized something was wrong. His potion was supposed to turn organge but it stayed stubbornly yellow. He reread the previous line of instructions and realized that he had added salamander blood instead of hellebore extract. How could he have mixed that up? He rushed to get the ingredients that would neutralize the salamander blood and was about to add the first one when Snape appeared in front of him.

"What are you doing Carter?" he asked.

Harry stayed silent. Saying that he was trying to correct a mistake would be as bad as not saying anything.

"Can you read Carter?" he asked.

Harry nodded. It was like watching a trainwreck.

"Read the fifth line of instructions," he said. He seemed to be enjoying this. Harry thought there had to be something wrong with his brain if this was his idea of entertainment. The rest of the class was staring at them in shock. Harry had a reputation for being good at Potions among the students. Many of them were in his study froup. To add to the novelty, this was the first confrontation between him and Snape.

Harry read the relevant line aloud, and as expected Snape asked if he had added Salamander blood instead of Hellebore extract.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied.

"And where does it say to add all these ingredients?" he asked, looking at the things Harry was going to use to neutralize the salamander blood.

"I must have misread the instructions sir," Harry said. Snape didn't seem to have realized what he was doing, and he was not in a mood to explain.

"Well then this mess is useless," Snape said looking at the greenish mixture in his cauldron. It was supposed to be pinkish orange. He waved his wand over the potion and vanished it. "Looks like you will be getting zero today," he said walking away.

Harry was staring at the empty cauldron in disbelief. As he looked around the class, he saw that a couple of the Ravenclaws were looking at the instructions in confusion. Harry became suspicious when he saw that their potions were looking greenish yellow.

Was it possible that all of them had made the same mistake as him? If so, that was a very big coincidence. Harry thought it was much more likely that Snape had deliberately changed that line of instructions while he was working on it, and then changed it back. The Ravenclaws were just unlucky to have been reading it at the same time as him.

Harry fumed silently. He had no proof. And Dumbledore would protect Snape in any case. He promised himself that he would think of something.

He cleared his table as the others finished their potions. He realized that he had become the new Neville. And he should resign himself to barely passing potions as long as Snape was teaching. He wondered whether Snape would try this tactic again. He would warn the study group.

He was the first one out of the room when the bell rang. He was still trying to tell himself that it was not that bad. He had always done worse in Potions than he could. He didn't want to attract attention by getting Os. Getting an A instead of an E was not that bad.

* * *

While Professor Snape took every opportunity to attack Harry, the other professors seemed to be impressed. He wondered if it was because he had written the letter or because he hadn't yet served detention with Snape.

Harry wondered about that too. He had expected Snape to just say, Carter you will be serving detention every evening this week, without giving a reason. But maybe Professor Sprout would object if he did something like that.

His grade for this year was definitely going to be bad. Snape had vanished a few of his potions so far. He had not changed the instructions while they were making the potions during every class, but he had repeated the tactic a few times. Harry was deliberately making the errors Snape intended in each of those potions. Snape had surprisingly not become suspicious yet.

He didn't have any hope that Snape would be replaced, unless he did something drastic. He hoped that the fact that Harry had got zeros for some potions after writing a letter to the Prophet complaining about Snape would look very bad for him.

* * *

Harry had also started asking his friends if they would be interested in a self defense group. After the basilisk attacks, no one questioned the necessity of the group.

All of his friends from the Potions study group had agreed to join. He was even more worried about secrecy for this group, because he didn't think the Professors would approve of what he was planning. And Snape was still around to read everyone's minds. He knew there was no hope of keeping this a secret.

They met in a large empty classroom. Harry called the group to order as soon as everyone was inside.

"All right. Welcome everyone to the first self defence class," Harry said looking at his audience. Silence had fallen as soon as he started talking.

"We are here because of the basilisk attacks. While the giant snake is no longer a threat to us, the fact that certain people in this castle think attacks on muggleborn student are acceptable means that we all need to be able to protect ourselves.

"I know that a lot of you are not muggleborn. But during the Blood War, everyone who didn't believe in Pureblood supremacy was targeted. So don't let your "blood status" give you a false sense of security. We all need to be able to defend ourselves.

"We also need to be able to protect our friends and family, if they can't do magic, or haven't learnt to fight. But most importantly we can't afford to be seen as easy targets as we were during the Chamber of Secrets incident. If there are consequences to attacking us, the Pureblood supremacists will think twice before doing anything," Harry said, looking at the group again. Some of them looked worried. They probably hadn't thought things were this bad. Some others were nodding. A few simply looked excited at the prospect of "dueling".

"And if any of you are here to learn dueling, you can leave," Harry said firmly. Almost everyone looked confused. "We are here to learn to defend ourselves. That is very different from dueling. We will not be following rules, and bowing respectfully before casting spells. We will be learning how to beat the people who don't follow rules and try to kill you." Harry said. Now everyone in the room was looking nervous.

"In the two years that I have been at Hogwarts, none of the teachers have attempted to teach us how to defend ourselves, or even been honest with us on how bad the prejudice against muggleborns is. And to make matters worse, one of the teachers here is an accused Deathe Eater." His statement was met with gasps, but nobody objected.

"And I know the headmaster claims to be in favor of equality for muggleborns. But his actions are disproportionately hurting us. We know nothing baout this world so we depend on good teachers to tell us everything we need to know. And we don't have rich families to provide for us, if we don't do well at academics. Add to that the fact that he insists on protecting someone who is accused of belonging to a group that wanted to kill muggleborns, we have to ask which side is Albus Dumbledore really on?" Harry finished to an eruption of muttering. He was starting a third front that would be separate from Voldermort and Dumbledore. He needed to attack both of them to gain supporters.

"You can't just accuse Professor Dumbledore of supporting Death Eaters!" Hermione Granger exclaimed.

"I did not accuse him of anything. I merely pointed out that his actions don't match with his publically stated opinions," Harry replied.

"But if Dumbledore is not on our side, aren't we in serious trouble?" Hannah asked.

"Yes we are. That is why we need to look after our own interests. We have to look at everything critically and come to our own opinions. We can't just assume something is true because it is told to us," Harry said looking around the room again.

"Who made you our leader?" Earnie asked challengingly. A few others were nodding too.

That was the question he was waiting for. He smiled and said, "We can vote on it of course, But first we will begin with a demonstration." He needed to establish his authority, if he expected this group of people to actually learn anything from him. He needed to impress them.

"Which of you think you can beat me in a fight?" Harry asked. For a few seconds people simply looked at each other. But one by one six people stepped forward. Harry nodded at them, then explained the rules. "If any of you subdue me before I do the same to all of you, you win. But remember, subdue not disarm," he told them. Against six opponents, all of them older than him, this was a gamble.

"You can't be serious!" Earnie objected. He was one of his opponents.

"I am serious, and I'm also going to win," Harry told him with a calmness he did not feel.

"But we can't just start fighting without deciding on the rules," Hermione objected.

"There are no rules," Harry replied.

"What about no spells that will do permanent damage?" Cedric suggested. He had not chosen to join the group of six.

Harry shrugged and said "Sure." He doubted any of his opponents would use them.

One of the first years indicated the start of the fight. What the group fighting him didn't know was that he had already put shield charms on his clothes. Harry was the fastest to cast his first spell. He hit one of the Weasley twins and dived out of the way of the other twin's spell. He rolled onto his right and was back on his feet to stun Earnie who just happened to be in front of him. He blocked a spell from Hermione with one of his gloves and cast Petrificus totalis on her. And in almost the same movement he hit Smith with a stunning spell. The other Weasley twin had hit Harry with two spells during this time and he cast the next spell at him. But he blocked it with a shield. Ron had gotten too close to Harry and he summoned him into the path of his brother's next spell, which knocked him out. Harry dived out of the way of the next spell, and stunned George from the ground before he could cast a shield charm again.

There was pin drop silence in the room as Harry went through the group that had fought him, reviving them.

"All right, so what does that tell you?" Harry asked.

"Don't underestimate Harry," Hannah replied immediately. A few people laughed.

"Don't underestimate anyone," Harry amended. "But really, I was hoping for don't make assumptions. The larger group doesn't always win," he said indicating the six people who had lost to him.

"But the more important question is why I won," Harry continued. "The first reason was that my opponents underestimated me, of course."

"Why didn't our spells affect you?" one of the twins asked.

"That is the second reason I won. I was prepared," Harry said. "I cast shield charms on all my clothes before the meeting."

"But that's cheating!" Hermione exclaimed outraged. A few other people also seemed to agree with her.

"If we were dueling that would be cheating. But as I told you, I am not teaching you how to duel. I am teaching you how to defend yourselves from Death Eaters," Harry replied. The room had fallen silent again. The constant mentions of Death Eaters had clearly alarmed some of the students.

"There was one more thing that helped me win. I kept moving throughout the fight. That made it difficult to hit me, whereas most of my opponents stayed still until someone aimed a curse at them," Harry pointed out.

"Now I want all of you to keep that in mind, and we can practice in groups," he said as he walked around observing them. All of them looked a little startled by the "demonstration". Harry had definitely impressed them. No one questioned his authority now. He had the core group for his third front.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourtied and followed this story. And sorry it's been so long. I have already started working on the next chapter and should have it up relatively soon.

Next time: Remus Lupin is offered the dreaded defense professor's job.


	9. Chapter 9: Finally, a normal year

A/N: For the last scene in the previous chapter, I asked myself if Mad Eye Moody was training new recruits for the war against Voldermort, what would he do?

And the idea to put shield charms on clothes is of course borrowed from the Weasley twins.

* * *

After the success of the first meeting of the self defense group, Harry was not expecting any more excitement that year. But at Hogwarts disasters happened when you least expected them.

The next one was a real tragedy. One of the seventh year Ravenclaws was found with his memories completely wiped. Harry was especially upset because he knew a little about the student in question. Everyone who knew him thought he had a bright future ahead of him.

And that was not all. He had apparently taken inspiration from Harry and compiled a list of inconsistencies in Lockhart's books, to send to the Daily Prophet. They received his owl the next day. And since they had heard what happened to the author, they published the letter on the front page, in spite of (or because of) Lockhart's popularity.

The day the Prophet published the anonymous letter, suspicion was instantly cast on the DADA professor. The fact that he tried to run away before the Aurors arrived, just made people more suspicious.

But Lockhart was incapable of being competent, and was caught trying to hide in a room at the Hog's Head, under a false name. He had since been arrested for the assault and was on his way to Azkaban while he awaited trial.

Harry was sitting with Justin, Susan and Hannah, in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The topic of discussion was the DADA professor's trial.

"Will he really go to prison?" Harry asked. After how the situation with Snape had played out, he did not expect fairness or justice from the wizarding world.

"He will," Susan answered. When Harry still looked skeptical, she said, "His wand was used to oblivate the student. And he had a reason to oblivate him too. Auntie will not let him escape justice."

Harry reminded himself that at least Amelia Bones was competent and not corrupt. Even Uncle Moony liked her. He nodded.

"Are you going to the trial?" Hannah asked. All of them had wanted to go.

"My aunt doesn't want to have me in the Wizengamot while she prosecutes one of my former professors," Susan said.

"My parents don't think I'm old enough to go to court to see a criminal trial," Justin said.

"And my dad has lots of stuff planned for the summer," Harry answered.

"It's summer vacation! It's supposed to be free time," Justin objected.

Uncle Moony would probably agree with the sentiment. But he couldn't change the world if he took vacations. "I'm going to catch up with muggle school work, especially maths and science. And I'm also joining a summer course in martial arts," he told his friends.

"Martial arts?" Susan asked.

"It's muggle fighting. And before you ask why, it helps improve your reflexes and stamina. That will be useful even in a wizarding duel."

"And we thought you weren't interested in duels," Hannah said with a mocking smile.

Harry's friends had not stopped teasing him about the comment about learning to fight for your life. They didn't know enough to think that he was serious. So they were mocking him for being dramatic. He laughed good naturedly.

* * *

As soon as Harry got back to Uncle Moony's house he started working on his plans. He was going to do everything he told his friends. But there were even more important things to do. He had written another letter to Sirius. The meeting was going to be at another hotel, and he would be notified in the morning on the day of the meeting. Sirius didn't seem to mind and he found it hilarious that the rest of the Order was annoyed because of it.

Harry had deliberately scheduled the next meeting at the same time that the Order was supposed to meet. He wanted Sirius to snub the Order. He had heard about how Dumbledore had tried to exert his authority over Sirius. Harry was not above holding petty grudges.

The letter to Sirius had been sent the next afternoon and Harry waited in the hotel room alone. Uncle Moony had gone to the Order meeting to keep up appearances. He thought Harry would be fine meeting Sirius on his own.

Harry greeted his godfather warmly. He had barely said hello, when he started telling Harry about the letter a muggleborn Hogwarts student had written complaining about "Snivellous". Harry listened patiently.

"I sent the kid a new potions kit. He did a great service to the school, let me tell you," Sirius was saying. Harry had indeed received a very expensive potions kit. It had been sent anonymously and he and Professor Sprout had spent a whole afternoon trying to make sure everything was what it was labeled as, and not something dangerous. After Professor Flitwick had checked it for curses and jinxes. He was not upset though. He had learnt a lot.

Harry laughed with Sirius. "Too bad he didn't get sacked though," Sirius said wistfully.

"I don't understand why. Everyone thinks he is incompetent and dangerous. And he is unpopular," Harry asked. He was hoping Sirius had some new insight to this situation that would help solve the Snape problem.

"I don't know. But he was a spy for Dumbledore towards the end of the war. He must be protecting him," Sirius said shrugging.

Having the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot protecting him would explain why he was not in prison. "If he claims to be a spy, why is he a teacher in a school? Surely that is not something a spy should do," Harry asked.

"I think Dumbledore wants to keep him close," Sirius shrugged uninterested.

Harry was outraged. Dumbledore wanted to keep his spy close, maybe even give him some respectability after his crimes had come to light. So what did he do? He sabotaged the education of his students, of course. "But that is unacceptable! Dumbledore is deliberately employing a bad teacher, who is also a criminal. You have to do something!"

Sirius looked surprised by Harry's reaction. He realized that he had over reacted for someone who didn't go to Hogwarts. So he continued in a calmer tone, "Just think about it. If Dumbledore had hired his nephew as a Professor even though he was incompetent, everyone would be upset right. So how is this different?"

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "I'll look into it. Are you sure you haven't been forced to attend classes with Snivellous?"

Harry's eyes widened immediately. If he was caught…

But Sirius laughed and he knew it was a joke. So he replied, "Of course not. He wouldn't be alive if I had to suffer through his classes."

"I'll help," Sirius offered, in reply to the implied death threat.

The conversation moved on to the Wizengamot and what Harry wanted to do next.

"Well, it's good to know that those fools will not be able to just put people in prison and forget about them," Harry said. Sirius had gotten them to pass laws saying that everyone had to be tried within two weeks of being arrested. Harry thought that was too long, but Sirius had explained that that was the duration it would take to arrange a full trial. The wizarding world didn't do well with multiple hearings for the same case, that were common in a muggle criminal court. With all the methods of magical concealment available, it would be too easy for the accused to disappear if they were released on bail.

"Just doing my noble duty by saving those idiots from their own stupidity," Sirius replied.

"And congratulations on getting compensation from the Ministry," Harry said.

"Thank you my dear godson. I have already set up a fund to pay for the education of any muggleborns and anyone else who wasn't invited to attend Hogwarts," he said looking pleased with himself.

Harry looked at him confused. So Sirius elaborated, "Werewolves, part creatures."

"But I thought Dumbledore doesn't care about that stuff?" Harry asked.

"He doesn't usually. But he has forgotten to invite a few. Just like he forgot about me," Sirius said bitterly.

Harry understood the implication. Those who were from Dark families would not get the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of innocence. Not even if they were eleven.

"But you can't get them into Hogwarts if Dumbledore refuses," Harry pointed out.

Sirius shrugged. "A lot of children are home schooled. A friend of mine knows about two young werewolves.(The friend is Remus. Sirius thinks Harry doesn't know about his "furry little problem".) They were bitten during the war. But they didn't get a letter. Their families say they are being home schooled, but they aren't rich enough to afford tutors in all the subjects their children might want to learn."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. This was a good idea and surprisingly considerate from his carefree godfather. "That was very nice of you, Sirius," he said.

Sirius brushed off the compliment and moved on to what Harry would want to do with a lot of money. He had a trust vault full of gold after all.

"Well I was thinking, we should start a fund to encourage new businesses," Harry said.

Sirius looked at him as if he had gone mad. "I meant what you want to spend money on. Not some boring business stuff. You have enough money that you would never need to work," Sirius explained.

"You are misunderstanding Sirius. I don't want to do this to make money. I'm thinking ahead to the time when we have to deal with You Know Who. If we own shares in some of the successful businesses, we will have some influence over the people who run them. But he already has a head start. A lot of purebloods own most wizarding businesses."

Sirius thought about that for a few minutes. Then he said, "That's a god idea Harry. But things aren't as bad as you think. Most business owners actually stayed out of the war. I'll look into investment opportunities."

They spent the rest of their time together chatting about quiddich. Harry mostly listened to Sirius, since he had decided he had no use for the sport, and didn't follow it. He didn't seem to realize that Harry was not a fan, since he was willing to listen. Sirius had also seen Harry fly the last time they met and had declared that it was crime that he was not on a quiddich team.

Harry later heard from Uncle Moony that Sirius had not even bothered to tell the Order of the Phoenix that he would not be at the meeting. Uncle Moony assumed that it was because Sirius suspected that Dumbledore would have him followed.

* * *

It was the last day of July. Harry Potter's birthday. But Harry and Uncle Moony ignored the day. Harry had insisted that they would never take any unnecessary risks and celebrating on this day would definitely be one. So he was surprised to see Uncle Moony rush into his room, with a letter. His first thought was that someone had written to wish him on his birthday. He told himself to stop being paranoid, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong Harry. I have been offered the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," he said.

Harry looked at him in alarm. Bad things happened to the Defense Professor. One had died and another was in Azkaban. Some students even said the position was cursed.

"Relax Harry. I will be fine. Not every defense professor gets into such serious trouble. Most of mine just lost their jobs or resigned for some reason," he said trying to be reassuring.

"But…" Harry objected. He wanted to stop Uncle Moony from taking the job. But if he insisted or manipulated him in some way, he would be acting like Dumbledore. He would have to leave this to Uncle Moony.

And he knew that Uncle Moony had already decided to take the job. The best years of his life were spent at Hogwarts. He had good friends there and Harry assumed he viewed the school with nostalgia. Of course he wanted to go back there. Not to mention it would free him from his tedious muggle job.

Uncle Moony had replied in the affirmative the same day, and he was officially the DADA teacher. Harry was nervous about what disaster would befall him, but he seldom voiced his worries.

* * *

Uncle Moony was going to ride the train with the students. He took the last compartment and decided to sleep or at least pretend to. Harry didn't want anyone to associate them with each other. So he joined his Hufflepuff friends in another compartment.

The journey was fairly uneventful, until the Weasley twins came into their compartment.

"Harry, our dear friend," one of them started.

"Have you heard?"

"The best news of our short lives," they finished. Harry had a confused look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"We have found,"

"the most important"

"thing to start"

"our joke shop!" both twins said the last line in unison.

That thing, it turned out was Sirius Black. They had met him during the summer, and had heard that he was looking for businesses to invest in. And they had secured his backing for their joke shop.

Harry had congratulated them, of course. They had offered Harry a share of the bussiness, but he waved them off. He said he would contact Sirius with his own business plans and thanked them for the information.

* * *

"You have business plans?" Hannah asked suspiciously.

"Do they have something to do with making illegal potions?" Susan asked.

"No they have something to do with legal potions," he answered.

They still looked at him suspiciously. Justin merely looked amused.

"Really. It's too much trouble to run an illegal business, especially since I'm still in school and a minor," he said.

"And that's why you're not breaking the law? Because it's too much trouble?" Susan asked.

"No it's because you would disapprove," Harry answered with a smile.

She huffed.

Harry explained his idea to them, "I'm actually planning to sell Sirius my ideas on modifications to make common potions more cheaply or to make them more effective. He can hire a brewer and have them made, and sell them cheaper than the competition."

"That's a surprisingly legal idea," Justin said innocently.

Harry hit him with the book he had been reading.

* * *

Harry thought Uncle Moony was a great teacher. Maybe even his new favourite teacher. But he was confused and slightly offended, when he stopped Harry from fighting the Boggart.

He went to speak to Uncle Moony that evening in his office. He behaved like any other student. It felt odd, but Uncle Moony had warned him that the potraits, ghosts and house elves could be reporting to Dumbledore. The old man was too well informed, for that to not be the case.

"Harry? What can I do for you?" Uncle Moony asked.

"Sir, I was wondering why you stopped me from facing the boggart today?" Harry asked. Hadn't he proved that he was at least as competent as the rest of the students in his class?

Uncle Moony cast a few spells to ensure they weren't being spied on. "Harry your boggart could turn into Voldermort," he said wearily. "That would raise a lot of questions, considering that you have only heard storied about him, ten years after he disappeared."

Harry didn't think that would be the case. But he didn't want to discuss this topic with Uncle Moony anymore. "I understand, Professor. Thank you for explaining it to me," he said and left the room immediately.

Now that he thought about it, he suspected the boggart would turn into Uncle Vernon. He was the most aggressive and bad tempered of his relatives. He was a symbol of everything that had ever been wrong with Harry Potter's life. Even knowing he was safely in prison, Harry couldn't shake off the unease he felt when he thought about the man.

And it was very lucky that Uncle Moony had stopped Harry from facing the boggart. Having it turn into Uncle Vernon would be as good as having Harry Potter tattooed on his forehead.

* * *

Harry's quiet year had come to an end in his first Care of magical creatures class. When it had been announced that Hagrid was the Professor for this class, he had already regretted taking it. He couln't help but be reminded that this man had taken him to Dumbledore after his parents death. If he hadn't, he might have grown up with Sirius and Uncle Moony. He would not even know that he had muggle relatives instead of spending five years locked in their cupboard and starved and threatened by them.

Harry told himself to stop blaming the messenger and pay attention to the lecture.

Harry knew he was biased but what was Professor Hagrid thinking! Hippogriffs in their first class. And what was Neville thinking, volunteering to bow to one of them! They were very easily offended. But Neville managed to not offend his hippogriff and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. But then Professor Hagrid asked him if he wanted to ride it! Fortunately Neville was still afraid of flying and refused.

Soon Professor Hagrid had all of them bowing to the hippogriffs.

"Treat it like a bomb that could explode any minute," Harry told his friends as they warily approached the large animal.

He had to explain what a bomb was for his female friends, but he had finally stepped in front of their assigned hippogriff and was bowing. Everyone fell silent as they watched him carefully.

When he had stepped back and Justin had taken his place, Susan asked, "How do you know so much about hippogriffs?"

"I already knew I wouldn't be able to open the biting book when I bought it, so I asked about books on magical creatures at Flourish and Blotts. They recommended Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

While they had been talking Draco Malfoy had been injured by his hippogriff. Harry was not surprised in the least. They had what might be called a prickly personality. And Harry was more than pleased to note the identity of the injured party.

* * *

Harry had continued his self defense group. And Snape was as bad as he had been the previous year. But to Harry's surprise, he kept getting E's in the class. Apparently Snape was not stupid. He knew giving Harry bad marks would give him something else to complain about.

But there was a surprising development one evening when Neville rushed to him at dinner, holding his toad tightly in his hand.

"Harry you won't believe what happened!" he exclaimed.

"I'm expecting something impressive after that opening," Harry said to the excited boy.

"It's huge! Snape is going to be fired," Neville said.

Harry didn't dare hope that it was true. He motioned Neville to continue.

"We just had double potions. We were making the shrinking solution, and Snape was angry with me," Neville grimaced. Harry had heard about Neville dressing the Snape boggart with his grandmother's clothes. Apparently Snape didn't find it funny.

"Snape was hovering, you know, like he does when he thinks you'll make a mistake. And he said he would test the potion on my toad. And I did something wrong," Neville said worriedly.

Harry nodded. He knew that Neville didn't do well under pressure.

"But Hermione helped fix my potion, so Trevor wasn't hurt when Snape gave it to him. But Snape got angry, because he knew Hermione had helped me and took points from her."

So far everything was the same as usual. This was slightly worse than normal, but only slightly.

"But then this old guy appeared beside me and said that Snape was doing an excellent job of demonstrating how a teacher should not behave if he didn't want his students to hate his subject forever," Neville said with an awed look on his face.

What old guy Harry wondered. But Neville continued his story, "He asked Snape if Professor Slughorn taught like he did and if he had learnt anything from him at all. Snape was speechless."

"Then he summoned the antidote and gave it to Trevor and told us to go and tell our friends that they would have a real Potions teacher soon."

* * *

Harry and his friends later found out that the old man in Snape's class was from the Potions guild of Europe. He had decided to look into the complaints about the Potions Professor at Hogwarts. Apparently Sirius had convinced Neville's grandmother and a few other people to speak to him.

He was disappointed that nobody educated at Hogwarts had joined his prestigious group in eight years. So it had not been too difficult to convince him to investigate. And his reputation meant that Dumbledore was not able to refuse him access to the school, or to keep him away from his embattled Potions Professor.

He had apparently observed half a dozen Potions classes, before he revealed himself in Neville's class. He had already written to his guildmates and many concerned parents about what he observed at the school. And within two days Dumbledore was dealing with irate parents demanding that their children not be exposed to Snape. They would make alternate arrangements to teach their children potions they told him.

Madam Bones was one of those parents. She had even written to Susan to ask whether she had permission to write to Harry and Justin's parents, so they could send letters to Dumbledore saying their children were not to be in contact with Snape under any circumstances. She had already sent a howler she said. Susan was surprised. Her aunt had never sent a howler before.

* * *

Within the week Potions was being taught by Professor Slughorn. He was an indulgent man and a much better teacher. Harry understood why he was head of Slytherin after only one class with the man. But he didn't necessarily dislike him. He was too grateful at having a good Potions Professor. And Professor Slughorn was very knowledgeable.

All these changes were making his head spin. But he understood now that as a twelve year old by, he had no credibility. His complaints against Snape had caused outrage. But the man from the potions guild had gotten things done. He decided against writing another letter to the newspapers as he had originally planned. He had information that would damage Voldermort's reputation but he needed someone with more credibility than himself to disseminate it.

"Mr. Carter, might I have a word with you?" Professor Slughorn asked.

Harry was lost in his thoughts and turned around startled. "Yes sir," he said warily.

"I was wondering whether you would like to attend a small get together on Friday evening?" he asked.

"Sir?" Harry asked confused. Why was a Professor inviting him to a social event?

"Oh, it's just a small gathering to get to know a few of your fellow students. I have heard you are quite the expert on Potions," he said casually.

Was the new Professor suspicious of him? Or was he just interested in getting to know the students who were good at his subjects? "Sure sir. I would love to attend," Harry replied. He was curious. Besides, refusing would only make things worse if he was suspicious.

* * *

The gathering was by no means composed only of good brewers. Although he thought Slughorn had invited all the students who were really good at his subject. But he had also invited some students who were not good at potions but exceptional at transfiguration or charms.

Harry had spent the gathering being introduced to some of the students who he didn't know. It seemed that Slughorn had decided that he showed the most promise at Potions out of all the students at Hogwarts. And he told almost everyone in the room that. Some of the students were from Harry's potions study group and decided that Slughorn had not praised Harry enough. They credited all their skill at Potions to him, which Harry thought was an exaggeration. So Harry had left the party with a very persistent flush to his cheeks.

* * *

Later when Harry told him about Slughorn's party, Uncle Moony thought it was very funny. He also corrected Harry on the criteria for invitation to Slughorn's club. Apparently he picked students who he thought would be successful or powerful later in life. He had been very good at predicting success and knew a lot of influential people. So Harry had been warned not to snub him.

Fortunately for Harry his remaining new teachers did nothing unexpected. Ancient runes was taught by Professor Babbling, who was arguably the most boring teacher in the world other than Professor Binns.

Arithmancy was taught by an enthusiastic witch called Professor Vector. But the subject itself was nothing new. It was like muggle mathematics with some magical concepts. He had been surprised that it was considered very difficult. But when he heard that magical families don't send their children to school, and that they had never encountered fractions before, he understood why they were finding the subject difficult.

* * *

Harry had taken advantage of the fact that Snape could no longer read anyone's minds and started teaching his self defense group some of the things he had learnt from muggle martial arts. It involved a lot of running and dodging and they invariably complained, but he was pleased to see that nobody had left the group. His demonstration had proven to be effective.

Some people had asked if they could invite their friends. Harry didn't refuse, considering he was not doing anything particularly dangerous. And nobody had wanted anything to do with the Slytherins.  
Harry was surprised at this, because he didn't think all of them were Voldermort supporters. But he understood why the other houses were wary of them. Even some of the Slytherins whose families had stayed neutral in the previous war might take offense at being told what to do by a muggleborn. And nobody wanted a situation where someone got into a serious fight with Harry. They knew he didn't pull any punches.

Harry ignored the absence of Slytherins and concentrated on training the next generation to survive whatever Voldermort threw at them.

* * *

He had elected to go home for the Christmas holidays. He didn't want to pretend to not know uncle Moony at Christmas. He was surprised at the topic he brought up as soon as they were safely in the house.

"Harry, are you training students to fight?" he asked.

Harry knew this couldn't be kept a secret. At least not from Dumbledore. So he said, "Yes, we started after the Chamber of Secrets was opened and Justin was attacked."

"Dumbledore is getting worried about you," Uncle Moony said. Harry took it to mean that he was attracting attention to himself.

"We need to be ready. Someone opened the Chamber of Secrets. We don't know how it was done or who did it. We can't assume we have time till we finish school," he said, hoping Uncle Moony would agree with him on this.

"I understand what you're trying to say, but try to be careful, ok?"

"I will," Harry agreed.

"Dumbledore wants me to attend one of your meetings," he said, surprising Harry.

"What! Why?" Harry asked.

"Are you worried about me attending these meetings?" Uncle Moony asked, seeing his reaction. "But to answer your question, I'm the defense professor and Dumbledore thinks I should offer to sponsor your club."

Harry didn't want Uncle Moony to think that the club was too violent, so he was glad to have the warning, but he saw the advantage of having him as the advisor. "Sure, I'll let you know when we have our next class."

* * *

Harry was determined that the inspection of his self defense group would not attract undue attention. Uncle Moony was a popular teacher, so Harry was surprised at the resistance of the group when he had announced that he was going to be their faculty advisor.

Harry taught the students some common offensive spells and had them split up into pairs to practice. He had heard from the older students that that was how some reasonably competent Defense professors taught them to fight.

Harry thought it was absolutely useless. It was much more likely that you would be attacked by a group of people when you were alone. In fact if you had to attack someone, he would recommend taking a few friends along and attacking their opponent while he or she was alone. You had to take every advantage you could in a real fight.

He often had everyone split up into groups of unequal numbers and fight. He wanted everyone to have practice in as many different scenarios as possible.

He also had most of the students practicing non verbal spell casting in their free time. It was a huge advantage, especially while they were still children and their opponents were not expecting it. But during this meeting he had deliberately introduced new spells, so everyone would have to say them aloud. He didn't want Dumbledore knowing what he was teaching.

Uncle Moony waited after the rest of the students left. A few of the students gave him curious looks as they walked out of the class.

"That was very interesting Harry. I can already see your influence in how they fight," Uncle Moony said.

Harry tried to keep his expression neutral as he answered, "I am probably the first competent person who taught them anything about defense."

"And are you including me in the list of incompetent Professors?" Uncle Moony asked with a smile.

"Of course not sir. I'm only referring to the fact that I started teaching them before you," Harry replied smoothly. He knew he was supposed to be acting like a stranger with Professor Lupin, but he was having too much fun.

"It was a good idea to teach them to keep moving during a fight. Most wizards stand in one place and try to hold their ground. But it's much harder to hit a moving target."

Harry nodded. Uncle Moony had already taught him that before he had come to Hogwarts. Pretending to not know him was tedious.

"And you're teaching everyone fairly advanced spells, even the first and second years," he said.

"They are the most likely to get attacked and not know what to do. It makes sense for them to learn the shield charm. They just needed to practice," he replied. It was not particularly easy, but he had known it before coming to Hogwarts. Uncle Moony had insisted that he should be able to defend himself before he went anywhere alone.

"They must respect you a great deal if they spend so much of their free time practicing," he said.

Harry shrugged. He hoped Dumbledore would leave him alone now. Most professors didn't attend a lot of meetings for the clubs they sponsored. And Uncle Moony would have even less free time than the average professor. He spent a few days every month dealing with his furry little problem. So he hoped that he might not come back to the club for a while. And they could go back to the serious business of preparing for a war.

* * *

At the end of the year, Harry was surprised that nothing out of the ordinary had happened since Uncle Moony had come to their defense group meeting. Even the end of year exams had gone well. Uncle Moony had an obstacle course, where they had to deal with several dark creatures but he had no trouble with them, especially since the part where he would deal with the boggart was hidden from other students.

He did well on his other exams as well. And considering that Professor Slughorn knew about his potions group, he saw no reason to underperform. He was now the top student in his year in Charms (Professor Flitwick had been his favourite professor since first year), Potions and DADA. Most of his other Professors would bemoan the fact that he didn't spend enough time on his essays.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe they had been lucky enough to escape the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's curse, when he got home without anything happening to Uncle Moony.

Not two days into the summer holidays, Harry's good mood evaporated when he saw the Daily Prophet. Apparently the Ministry was putting even more restrictions on werewolves, including the requirement that they register at the Ministry. There were also rules on what jobs they could and could not do. The curse on the defense professor's job had struck again.

* * *

A/N: First, I want to thank Cassandra30 for her suggestion on how to deal with Snape. I could think of nothing that would not be illegal, which would make it out of character for Harry. I needed Snape to leave because if he stayed at Hogwarts, he would eventually find out too much about the defense group by reading someone's mind and that would cause problems.

If anyone is curious, the Diary has still not been discovered, and might still be with Ginny. Ron's rat ran away as soon as Sirius Black was acquitted in Harry's first year but Harry was not his friend, so he didn't hear about it. I didn't want to write about Hagrid and buckbeak, because they have nothing to do with the story here and writing Hagrid's dialogues gives me a headache. And yes, Hermione had the time turner. Harry didn't know about it but if he did he would consider stealing it.

I'm not happy with this chapter. Mostly because nothing interesting happened in it. I promise more action in the next one.

Next time: The Triwizard Tournament has been revived. And of course it has four competitors.


	10. Chapter 10: Dancing with Dragons

A/N: I have some vague plans about what to do with Ginny and the Diary. But nothing is going to happen yet. The Ravenclaw whose memory was wiped will probably be mentioned later as well.

* * *

Harry had spent the summer in his usual pursuits. He had met Sirius, practiced martial arts, caught up on some of his muggle studies. But the anti-werewolf laws weighed on his mind no matter what he did.

Uncle Moony was pretending that everything was fine. He had assured Harry that everything would be ok. That not working in the wizarding world and giving them the address of his cottage in the woods was not a big deal. But that was not the problem. He knew that Uncle Moony was upset. He was being treated like a criminal. Only criminals who had been released early from prison were treated like this in the muggle world. And Harry didn't know what to do about it.

He had considered asking Sirius for help, but he doubted that he could do anything either. He might have political capital, but people were just too scared of werewolves for that to make any difference in this case.

But Sirius seemed to know that his friend was upset too, and he tried to cheer him up with tickets to the Quiddich World Cup. Ironically Sirius was disappointed when Harry refused to attend the match with him.

It had not been easy for Harry to convince Uncle Moony to go to the match without him, but he had finally succeeded. They had both agreed that Harry wouldn't be safe at the match. There would be too many witches and wizards and everything would be too chaotic. Uncle Moony thought there might be random violence anyway. People got upset if their team lost or if they lost money betting on the match. And there would be a lot of alcohol. Harry had convinced him to go to keep Sirius out of trouble.

While Uncle Moony went to the match, Harry went to live with Justin. His parents were investment bankers and had a spare bedroom, even though they lived in London. Harry had brought along some potions that changed the drinker's hair colour and Justin's parents were very impressed.

He had even brought along some Polyjuice Potion. He explained to them that if they thought they were in danger and needed to hide, they could use the potions to pretend to be someone else. They had the advantage of living in a part of London that was crowded irrespective of the time of day, so getting hair to add to the potion shouldn't be a problem.

They were impressed that such a thing could be done with magic, but also alarmed that a fourteen year old boy thought they might be attacked. Justin reassured them by telling them that Harry was the most paranoid student at their school.

* * *

Harry had enjoyed the week with his friend and had no idea what was happening in the wizarding world.

Uncle Moony had come to pick him up on the appointed day in his disguise as John Carter, the muggle. Harry was worried that real muggles would see through the disguise, but Uncle Moony's mother was a muggle and she seemed to have trained him well on how to deal with them.

Uncle Moony took him home by side along apparition as soon as they were away from the crowds.

"How was your week?" he asked, as soon as they reached home.

"It was great! Justin's parents are really nice. They took us to the amusement park and we watched lots of movies," Harry said. Justin had even commented on the fact that Harry was not obsessively studying for the first time in his life.

"I'm glad you didn't come to the match. There was a Death Eater attack," Uncle Moony said.

Harry stared at him in shock. "How? Why?"

"I know. Sirius and I were wondering too. Why have they shown themselves now after staying silent for twelve years?" Uncle Moony said.

"But why would they do something like this? They were risking spending time in Azkaban right?" Harry asked.

"Yes. I don't know why specifically, but I suspect that having to live on muggle camping grounds didn't go down well with some of the Purebloods. The manager at the camp might have objected to something one of them did. Who knows? But the camp manager's family was targeted."

"Were they caught?" Harry asked. He already knew they hadn't been. Uncle Moony would have mentioned it otherwise.

"No, none of the Death Eaters were caught. The Ministry had its hands full trying to put out fires and get people out," he said.

Harry had expected it, but he was still disappointed. "Did you and Sirius get out ok?"

"Yes were fine. Sirius didn't want anything to do with the Ministry, so we didn't try to help with the fire or evacuation. We heard about the muggles from Arthur Weasley the next day," Uncle Moony said.

"Is the Ministry investigating?" Harry asked.

"Yes but I don't think they'll find anything. We both know how much they care about muggles," Uncle Moony said bitterly.

* * *

Over the rest of the summer there was no news on the Death Eaters. The newspapers had reported that Crouch's house elf had been found with a wand and people were speculating on whether she had cast the Dark Mark.

One night Harry had a most disturbing nightmare. He saw Voldermort killing an old man. He had woken up Uncle Moony, because it didn't feel like a normal dream. And Harry usually didn't remember his dreams. This had felt much more real than a dream. Like he was really there and had killed the man himself.

They were sitting at the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate, when Uncle Moony said something that made Harry worry even more.

"Harry, you need to be careful at Hogwarts this year. I don't know why, but the Death Eaters have been active lately and You Know Who is killing people," Uncle Moony said.

"You mean, he might be back?" Harry asked.

"Maybe, I don't know. But we need to be even more careful than we have been. I want you to keep some potions with you at all times. I'll suggest that Sirius gives you a mokeskin pouch on your birthday. We might need to acquire another wand…" Uncle Moony said.

"You make it sound like we are at war!" Harry said alarmed.

"We have been at war ever since You Know Who tried to kill you Harry. Do you think we're pretending that you're a muggleborn wizard because it's funny? Have you forgotten that I kidnapped you?" Uncle Moony said heatedly.

"I'll be careful Uncle Moony. I was just surprised," Harry said trying to calm things down.

"I'm sorry for over reacting. I just got used to being at Hogwarts last year. And now, you're going to be alone at the school. Especially this year, when it looks like something is going to happen," Uncle Moony said worriedly.

"Please don't worry about me. I'll stay out of trouble," Harry said placatingly.

"I know you will. But you still need to be careful. This year's defense teacher is Mad Eye Moody. He is very suspicious and I expect he will try to investigate everything that is out of the ordinary," Uncle Moony said.

"So he might want to investigate me?" Harry asked.

"Probably. Hermione is muggleborn too, and she probably does better than you at school. So your academic record shouldn't draw his attention. But Dumbledore is sure to mention that you run a self defense group. That will make him curious," Uncle Moony said.

"And will he try to stop us?" Harry asked.

"Not at all. He is paranoid. So I expect he will approve of your idea to be prepared for the next war," he said.

"This is such a disaster! You Know Who and his followers are attacking people again and some paranoid auror is going to be teaching us defense," Harry said throwing up his hands.

"It's not that bad. You Know Who will stay away from Hogwarts until he has gathered support. He was always wary of Dumbleodre. And I doubt even Moody would suspect that you are a metamorphmagus. Even if he suspects, proving it will be difficult," Uncle Moony said trying to reassure Harry.

"And it's not like I can accidently tell anyone that I'm Harry Potter. I'm not the secret keeper," Harry said with a smile.

* * *

The rest of the vacation had been uneventful. Harry had met Sirius with Uncle Moony to celebrate his birthday in August. Sirius had sulked about not being able to meet Harry on his real birthday, but they had parted on good terms.

He had also given Harry a mokeskin pouch, as Uncle Moony had suggested. Harry lost no time in filling it with a supply of healing potions. Sirius had also given Harry a spare wand. He had been curious where he got it from. Uncle Moony later told him it was one of the Black ancestor's wands.

* * *

Harry, Justin, Susan and Hannah were sitting in a compartment on the train when Malfoy opened the door. Harry didn't draw his wand although he noticed that both Justin and Hannah had discreetly prepared to cast spells at the first sign of trouble.

"If it isn't the mudbloods and the blood traitors," Malfoy drawled. His two friends snickered.

Harry ignored them.

"Aren't you supposed to not talk to us then? You have my permission to start right now," Hannah said.

"Are you going to enter then?" Malfoy asked.

"No," Susan answered.

"Are you scared Bones?" Malfoy continued.

Harry, Justin and Hannah were looking at Susan in confusion. "It's my good deed of the year. I know you need the thousand galleons more than me," Susan answered.

Malfoy drew his wand at that. But before he could cast any spells, both Justin and Hannah had hit him with Expelliarmus.

Crabbe and Goyle stared at Malfoy wide eyed. Then they fumbled for their wands.

"Do you really want to fight with the four of us?" Harry asked. They just looked at him blankly. "Take Malfoy back to your compartment," he said.

Fortunately, they did as they were told. As soon as the door was closed, all eyes turned on Susan.

* * *

"What were you and Malfoy talking about?" Hannah asked.

"Auntie told me they are reviving the Triwizard tournament this year," Susan said casually.

None of her friends had ever heard of this tournament. So she explained what she knew about it.

"Why does anyone think it's a good idea to start a tournament that was stopped centuries ago because too many people died in it?" Harry asked outraged.

"I don't know. Auntie isn't happy about it either," Susan said.

"Why are you so upset about it? It's not like we can participate. We are not seventeen yet," Hannah said.

"I know that. But I don't trust the Ministry to make sure that nobody dies this time. And I really don't want to see any of our seventeen year old friends become collateral damage in this tournament," Harry replied.

"Anyway, my aunt has forbidden me from entering, even though I shouldn't be able to," Susan said, trying to change the subject from dead Triwizard participants.

"She is just trying to make sure you don't join all the dead Triwiard participants," Harry said with a smile.

"Can we talk about something else?" Susan huffed.

* * *

The year started without any surprises. If an old man with a peg leg and fake eye that could see through walls was not surprising, that is. But Moody turned out to be a good teacher. He had started teaching them about the Unforgivable curses.

Harry had surprised him by being slightly resistant to the Imperius Curse. Which of course meant that he insisted on casting it on him until he could throw it off completely. Harry knew he had attracted too much attention to himself with that. Considering how impressed the old auror sounded, Harry knew this would be mentioned to other teachers.

* * *

Harry was not surprised when Moody asked him to wait after the next class.

"I hear you have a self defense group," Moody asked.

"Yes sir," Harry answered.

"And who is in it?" he asked.

"Anyone who is recommended by a current member," Harry replied. He thought that was a good way of keeping out anyone untrustworthy.

Moody nodded. "Not the best system, but it should keep the unsavory characters out."

Harry was surprised that he said that aloud. But he didn't know how to reply.

Moody didn't seem to need a reply, because he asked, "When is the next meeting?"

Clearly he was going to turn up and wasn't going to ask Harry for permission. Harry told him where and when and left the class.

* * *

His attempt to keep the real training that his self defense group did under wraps did not go well.

Harry had tried to do what he did when Uncle Moony attended one of their meetings the previous year. He had the group split up into pairs and throw spells at each other. This time he had actually told everyone in advance that he was trying to keep what they learnt a secret. So everyone was actually behaving very much like untrained fools, and taking turns casting offensive spells and shields.

Moody walked between the pairs looking at them with a sinister smile. Harry wondered what he was planning. Suddenly he drew his wand and cast a few spells at the students near him. Two of the targeted students dived and rolled out of the way, one cast Protego to block the spell, one was disarmed and one more was stunned.

"Not bad," Moody said looking around him.

"Why did none of you try a counterattack?" he demanded.

"Not attacking Professors, no matter what they do, was a rule that was drilled into our heads," Harry replied. "If not, we would have needed a new Potions Professor a long time ago. But we get your point."

"Fair enough," Moody said. "Now why don't you stop this farce and do some real training?"

Harry smiled at him and said, "With all due respect sir, nobody has vouched for you."

Moody really laughed at that. "Someone who really practices constant vigilance!" He was still laughing as he waved to Harry and walked out of the room.

* * *

Harry had wondered if the defense professor was offended by his refusal to show him what his group was really learning. But he didn't treat Harry any differently in his next class and didn't seem to hold a grudge. He had in fact announced that he would be staging mock duels in all his classes.

Harry suspected it was a way to find out how good the students he taught were. But Harry wouldn't ask them to hold back. If people knew his students could defend themselves, there would be less attacks on them. In fact, Cedric had told him that younger Hufflepuffs were often targeted in the halls. There had been very few cases of that since Harry had started training them.

* * *

Just when Harry had started getting comfortable, students from Dumstrang and Beauxbatons had arrived. Harry was disappointed that none of the new students chose to sit at the Hufflepuff table. He was curious about them and could speak both German and French, the languages the new students seemed to speak. But they were going to be around for the rest of the year, so he had plenty of time to speak to the foreign students.

Harry was as surprised as anyone that a Goblet of Fire was going to choose the names of the school champions. He had assumed that the impartial judge would be a person. But it made sense. The artifact would at least not have any favourites or biases.

* * *

Harry was nervous as everyone waited for the champions to be selected. It was Halloween and bad things happened on this day. His parents had been killed, a troll had gotten into the school, the chamber of secrets had been opened. But this should be ok. He was not in the running to be chosen as champion after all.

Harry clapped with the rest of the Hufflepuff table as they cheered Cedric being chosen as champion. He couldn't feel happy about it though. He didn't want his friend in a tournament that had a high death rate.

But nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. The Goblet of Fire had produced another piece of parchment. "Harry Carter," Dumbledore read.

Harry was frozen for a few seconds. But he finally got up and followed the other champions.

"Harry?" Cedric asked, as he walked in.

"My name came out of the Goblet as well," Harry explained.

"But how?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"But you can't be in the tournament! You're too young!" Cedric objected. Harry thought it was nice of him to worry.

Then the adults had come in. Harry found out that he had no choice but to compete in the tournament. He had told Dumbledore twice that he didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire. But he could see that the officials from the Ministry didn't want to believe him.

Finally Moody had pointed out that the person who had put Harry's name into the tournament was trying to get him killed, which Harry thought was the most obvious thing in the world but apparently some of the people there hadn't even considered it.

Harry decided he had tolerated enough stupidity. "Mr. Crouch, what happens if I don't compete in the tournament," he asked.

"You must compete. It's a magically binding contract," he said.

"You already said that. But I'm saying I didn't enter my name, and I won't compete," Harry said still trying to be calm.

"You can't do that! You have to compete," he said once again giving no useful information. And Harry fought the urge to bang his head against the wall.

"I heard you the first time. But what happens if I don't compete? Am I going to die? And if, so will it be when the tournament ends, or when I refuse to do the first thing champions are required to do?"

"You can't refuse to compete! You could lose your magic and so could the other champions," Ludo Bagman objected. Harry stared at him in shock. The other champions had started mumbling.

"Are you really that stupid?" Harry asked Bagman. Dumbledore probably wanted to discipline him for being rude to the fool, but Harry spoke over everyone else, "What happens if a champion catches Dragonpox? Would you still send them out to compete and risk them infecting everyone else involved in the tournament?"

Everyone was staring at him. They had clearly not thought about it. Harry decided he wasn't going to get anything useful from these people. He would have to find out for himself. "Mr. Crouch, please give me a copy of the contract that applies to the champions of the Triwizard tournament."

Mr. Crouch was not done antagonizing him apparently. "There is no written contract. The Goblet of Fire is given the parameters for the tournament, and then it selects the champions. Entering your name is a magically binding contract."

Harry couldn't believe how they could be so careless. Hadn't Dumbledore as good as admitted that anyone could have put his name into the Goblet, when he asked if Harry had asked an older student to enter his name? And now they were saying that they didn't even know what the consequences of not participating were. "And when the Goblet of Fire was given the parameters for the tournament, didn't anyone tell it that three people would be competing?"

Again silence. Harry suspected they had. Which meant, someone had changed the parameters for the tournament. This was very bad. He turned to the other champions, "You might want to start worrying too. Since the person who entered me into the tournament has changed the parameters, even they don't know what is going to happen," Harry said indicating the tournament officials. Then he turned around and walked out.

* * *

The Hufflepuff Common room was in the mood for a party. But Harry was too angry to celebrate.

Fortunately Justin, Hannah and Susan had rescued him and they were sitting in the dorm room.

"You really didn't enter did you?" Susan asked.

Harry smiled at them. They knew him so well. "No I didn't. And that's not the worst part." He proceeded to tell them about the conversation he had in the room with the other champions.

"This is terrible!" Hannah wailed. "You could die. They have to find a way to get you out of that tournament."

"What I'm really angry about is that Dumbledore practically admitted that anyone who could cross the age line could have put anybody's name into the Goblet," Harry fumed. Both Susan and Hanah paled.

"But what are we going to do?" Susan asked.

"The only thing we can do. I'm going to participate in the tournament," Harry said grimly.

* * *

Over the next few days Harry found out that not everyone in Hufflepuff was happy about him being chosen as the fourth champion. A few people had decided that he had cheated to take the spotlight away from Cedric, who they considered the "real" Hogwarts champion. Harry didn't disagree that Cedric was the real champion. But the fact that people were attacking him because the Ministry of Magic had done something stupid was getting on his nerves.

Apparently he was not the only one who was getting annoyed with the people who kept going on about how Cedric was the real Hogwarts champion. His self defense group had got into a fight with some of these students. Harry was proud of Neville, Ron and Dean who had soundly beaten six older Hufflepuffs who were saying that Harry had cheated. But he also knew that he couldn't condone their actions.

So in the next meeting of his self defense group, he decided to address the issue.

"Thank you for coming today," Harry started in the same way as he usually did. "Today, I would like to bring a serious problem to your attention. Some of the students at Hogwarts believe that I have cheated to become a Triwizard champion." This resulted in muttering from the assembled students. Harry knew that many of them believed that he had entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. They had even congratulated him and expressed confidence in his ability to win. A few had gone so far as to say that he was a better choice as champion, than anyone else in the school.

"Let me be clear. I have not entered my name into the Goblet of Fire. And if I had wanted to participate in the tournament, I would have entered my name under Hogwarts. In which case either Cedric or I would be Hogwarts champion. Since both our names came out of the Goblet of Fire, I believe that someone confounded the Goblet to make it accept my name under a fourth school." There was complete silence at that declaration.

"This was most definitely a case of cheating. But I am not the one who benefits by it. I have to risk my life and compete against three students who have more experience and training. And I know that a thousand galleons is a lot of money. But I would never risk my life for any amount of money. As far as fame is concerned, I have no interest in it either. There is absolutely nothing that being a Triwizard champion offers, that I would choose to risk my life for," Harry said. The students looked at each other confused and nervous.

"Now that that is out of the way, let us get to the reason I called this meeting. I don't want anyone to participate in duels or fights to defend me from accusations of cheating or anything else for that matter. If another student is saying something you don't agree with, you are within your rights to argue with them. But you can't start casting spells. That is a crime in the world outside Hogwarts. The only time when it would be acceptable to attack another person with magic is when you are defending yourself from an attack. Since I have taught you how to fight, it is also my responsibility to explain when it is appropriate to use your wand and when it isn't. So let me reiterate. You are not obliged to defend me. And please don't attack people just because they say something you disagree with."

Harry looked around at the students who were looking at each other and talking in whispers. He hoed that this was going to be enough. He really hated having to discipline anyone.

* * *

After the meeting, Harry's friends had surrounded him to object to what he had told the group.

"Why did you tell everyone to not defend you? People like Malfoy will feel like they can get away with saying anything about you," Justin said.

"Didn't you grow up in the muggle world Justin? Have you forgotten about freedom of speech? People can say anything they want. We can't really stop them. Besides, cursing them for saying something we don't like is literally a crime," Harry replied. Well the muggle world had libel and defamation laws. The wizarding world had neither and it didn't have any obvious freedom of speech laws either. But Harry decided not to complicate the issue.

"But aren't you angry?" Susan asked.

"Yes I am angry. But attacking students will not solve the problem. We don't want to make them our enemies. And I don't want any of my friends in detention either," Harry replied.

"We are proud of being on your side. We don't care about detention," Hannah said.

Why was this so complicated? "Thank you for saying that Hannah. But I am only asking that all of you don't break the law against assaulting people. And think about it. What will happen if we start attacking students we disagree with? They will retaliate. Eventually, they will figure out that we are prepared to fight. So they will target us when we are alone. Or worse, they will target the first years who can't defend themselves yet."

"It would be like the war," Susan said.

Harry had not really thought about that. But yes it would be like the war.

"Of course it won't. We're not going to kill anyone!" Hannah exclaimed.

"But some of the people who might be our opponents had Death Eaters for parents. Are you really willing to bet that they won't use spells that will do permanent damage?" Harry asked.

They all looked at him wide eyed. "I'm trying to avoid confrontations as much as possible. And I already told everyone that I won't make them fight if they don't want to," Harry said trying to reassure them.

"When you started teaching us, you said we will have to fight people who are trying to kill us. Do you really think the Death Eaters will start another war?" Susan asked.

"I don't know. But being prepared is always a good idea," Harry said.

* * *

Harry was forced to turn his attention away from his self defense group as the first task came closer. He had been told that it would be a surprise. All he knew was the date.

Once he had found himself competing in the Triwizard tournament, he had looked up everything about it in the library. He had looked for patterns in previous tournaments and come to the conclusion that the first task would require him to retrieve a clue for the second task from some animal.

But what animal? It could be literally anything. In fact the Forbidden Forest was full of dangerous creatures. But what could it be? Harry had spent hours looking into acromantulas, centaurs, thestrals and even unicorns. He hadn't found any good way of dealing with most of the creatures. But the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that this was not what the tournament organisers would do.

The Forest was convenient. But the creatures in it were either not big enough or not dangerous enough and in the case of the threstals, not visible enough to be suitable opponents for the Triwizard participants. This was the first time the tournament was being held in centuries. The first task would have to be spectacular.

And most of the large and dangerous animals lived outside Britain. So Harry had gone back to the self defense group, this time to ask for information. A lot of his students had relatives who worked in the Ministry. He asked them to find out if any dangerous magical creatures had been imported into the country recently.

It had only taken a week to find out that the Ministry had imported three dragons. Harry thought they were the most obvious choice for the first task. And there were supposed to be three champions. So they would get one dragon each. He had briefly wondered how they would deal with the fourth champion. But he was not foolish enough to think that one champion could escape the task.

* * *

The next order of business was to decide what to do. Harry thought the most obvious way to attack the dragon was to try to cool it. As a cold blooded animal it would be unable to move if he could make it cold enough. Unfortunately, he was unlikely to succeed at freezing an entire dragon. It was too big and it could breathe fire.

The books he read on dragons had mentioned a conjunctivitis curse on the dragon's eyes, which had the least protection. But that would only make the dragon angry. Harry didn't want to deal with an angry dragon.

But that gave him an idea. He could use a blinding curse. That would give him an advantage. But on its own, it was not enough to win, or even get out of the task alive.

Harry looked up blinding curses, while he considered his disadvantages. He didn't have magic resistant skin. He couldn't breathe fire and he couldn't fly. But when he thought about it like this, Harry realized that was not necessarily true. He could fireproof his clothes. He could use spells to create fire and he could summon his broom to fly!

* * *

Harry had convinced Professor Slughorn to let him look in the restricted section. It had not even been difficult. He found the blindness curse within half an hour. And since Harry had access to that part of the library, he was determined to take full advantage of it. He scoured the books for spells that he could use in potential fights with Death Eaters. He also looked for spells that his opponents might use and ways to protect himself.

* * *

Harry was in high spirits in the lead up to the first task. He was reasonably sure that Cedric knew what he would face in the first task, considering he had publically asked for information on recently imported dangerous creatures. And he was confident that he had a fool proof plan.

But on the day of the task, he was very nervous. He had spilled his tea, dropped his knife and broken Justin's teacup at breakfast. His hands were shaking that badly. Classes were hopeless, he remembered nothing that was said by the teachers. His friends were treating him like he was going on a suicide mission. And when Professor McGonagall led him to a tent in the forest, Harry himself was starting to feel the same way.

He kept reminding himself that he was as prepared as anyone could be. But he couldn't help the nervousness. He felt sure that something would go wrong and he would end up getting roasted by the dragon.

If he was hoping for luck, he had none. He was going to fight the most dangerous dragon and he would be going last. Harry hated waiting. It made him more nervous. He paced obsessively, while his fellow competitors were called into the arena one by one. As he paced, he realized that Krum and the Delacour had not shown any surprise at seeing the model dragons. Well he thought at least they would survive. Because he doubted anyone would survive an encounter with a dragon if they went in unprepared.

* * *

And finally it was his turn. Harry walked into the arena to loud applause and shouts. He paid no attention to the crowds. He was still nervous. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He needed to concentrate completely on his task while he was within fire breathing range of the dragon.

When Harry finally opened his eyes, he felt slightly calmer. He raised his wand and said, "Accio Nimbus." He would have to thank Sirius, he thought. The broomstick was in his hand within minutes and he was in the air.

Harry felt weightless, as if he had left his nervousness on the ground. He flew closer to the dragon, but he was still far enough away to not appear threatening. He pointed his wand at her and said the incantation for the blinding curse, slowly and clearly.

As expected the dragon gave a loud roar and sent flames to where she had last seen Harry. But he had taken a steep dive as soon as he finished the incantation. The flames sailed harmlessly over his head. Harry wondered if he should put some distance between him and the dragon until she calmed down. She was alarmed by her blindness and was sending jets of flame in all directions.

But he decided that it was best to get the egg before something went wrong. He ducked and dived between the jets of flame and was soon within reach of the golden egg. He dodged a swipe from her tail and realized belatedly that even if she couldn't hear him over the noise the crowd was making, she could definitely smell him.

Harry was forced to move away from the eggs. He decided that he couldn't keep eluding her for long and he needed to get the egg quickly. So he finally decided to test the fireproofing wards he had put on his clothes and broom. He had found them in a book on warding homes. His clothes had survived being put into the fire in the common room. So Harry was optimistic about his chances.

He took a risk by diving straight for the egg. He was hit by dragonfire in the back and the crowd screamed as one. But Harry knew the wards had worked. He would be dead otherwise. He had plucked the egg out of the nest and was rising through the air in one smooth motion.

He narrowly avoided the next burst of flame, took a hard right and flew close to the ground for a few feet before he was far enough away from the dragon to rise back into the air.

The crowd was screaming again and Bagman was saying something about Harry flying better than Krum. Harry didn't linger though. He got out of the arena, and was immediately accosted by Madam Pomfrey.

A/N: I had originally planned to write only about the Triwizard tournament in this chapter, but there were other problems that Harry had to deal with and things got out of hand. I hope nobody is disappointed that I didn't mention the wand weighing, and Rita Skeeter's article. Since Harry is not Harry Potter, she wouldn't be interested in him. Yet.

Also any guesses on how Harry Carter got entered in the Triwizard tournament?

Next time: Dumbledore is unhappy with the blind dragon, and Harry has a surprise date for the Yule Ball.


	11. Chapter 11: What's in a Name

A/N: Hello again. I know it has been a long time since the last update and I apologize most sincerely. I should have mentioned this in the last chapter, but I have moved to a different city and country in the last month. That took much more time and effort than I expected, so I was not able to write. But I am back now and I hope to keep a more reasonable schedule. I also have a few things to say about the story, but they are not essential so feel free to skip them.

I realized after posting the previous chapter that I forgot to write the conversation between Harry and Remus, where Harry tells him about being entered into the Triwizard tournament. Remus is obviously worried but there is nothing he can do about it. And Harry also convinces him to not come to the school for the first task. He thinks it might make people suspicious. I apologize for the oversight. I write scenes out of order sometimes. In my defense, I was sick and didn't proofread the whole chapter before posting.

Also a reviewer asked about Remus and Harry's finances. Remus is working in the muggle world in a company that provides financial services. London, where they live, is considered the banking capital of the world. And banking is a profession that pays well. So it would make sense that Harry, who knows about the muggle world, would suggest such a job to Remus. He could use magic to convince his employers that he had the necessary qualifications. Remus left his old job at the beginning of third year to teach at Hogwarts and took another muggle job when the anti-werewolf laws came out. I know I have mentioned in earlier chapters that Remus still thinks that he is poor. This is because he is paying for Harry to go to Hogwarts (I assume) and also because Remus would need more potions and is in poorer health than the average wizard (which is why, it helps that Harry makes all the potions). In this story, Remus inherited a house from his parents. But he had to sell it because he couldn't hold a steady job. He has a small cabin in the woods where he goes at the full moon and the house he lives in with Harry in London is rented (because buying a house in London costs a small fortune).

* * *

After Madam Pomfrey was satisfied that he was not injured, Harry walked out to get his score. But it seemed that Dumbledore had a few questions. Or accusations.

"Mr. Carter, I am very disappointed that you felt the need to cast a dark curse on the dragon," he started.

Harry expected this objection but had no patience for it. "And I am disappointed that you felt the need to risk the lives of four nesting mothers for entertainment," Harry replied.

"He has a point Dumbledore," Karkaroff said with an amused grin.

"I have reversed your spell but that dragon will never recover its full vision," Dumbledore said. Harry wondered if the old man thought he would feel bad about it. He could have died in this task!

It turned out that Dumbledore and Madam Maxime gave him eight out of ten each, the two Ministry judges gave him ten each and Karkaroff gave him four. Harry thanked them politely and walked back to the common room.

* * *

He heard that he had performed the best of all the students and was the only one to suffer no injuries.

"What was the curse that you used on the dragon?" Susan asked.

"It was just a curse to cause blindness," Harry said in an irritated tone.

"What's wrong with you? She was just asking a simple question," Justin said.

"Sorry, Dumbledore already accused me of using a 'Dark Curse'," Harry said.

"So what? You were fighting a dragon," Justin objected.

"And this particular curse isn't illegal either," Harry said, smiling to put Susan at ease.

"So why was Dumbledore complaining?" Hannah asked.

"Because he couldn't restore the dragon's vision completely. The curse does some permanent damage. And it gets worse over time," Harry told them.

"But it was only a few minutes. The dragon will still be able to see," Susan said.

"Yes but a few minutes are enough to do some permanent damage," Harry told them.

"So what now?" Justin asked.

"Now we figure out what to do with the egg," Harry said raising the golden egg in his arms.

"You just took that from under a dragon's nose. We're going to have a party. We'll worry about that later," Justin said pulling him into the centre of the common room. He really loved parties.

* * *

Harry had spent some time at the party, mostly because he wanted to hear about the performance of the other champions. The rest of Hufflepuff house was only too glad to tell the stories. He listened to them and answered questions on his own performance. His housemates were very impressed, especially the younger students, who had always seen him as the invincible teacher of the self defense group.

Harry was actually starting to feel slightly guilty about the way things were going. He had promised Uncle Moony that he would stay out of trouble and not attract attention. He was clearly not doing that.

But it was not really his fault that he was in this stupid tournament. And Uncle Moony knew about his self defense group and had even said that it was a good idea. Although Harry doubted that he understood the implications of the group. He was on track to have his own vigilante group. And unlike Dumbledore, his group was going to have experience fighting together and taking orders from him. He had taken enough martial arts classes to know that you had to be decisive against a violent opponent.

Now that Harry had survived the first task, he had asked the members of his self defense group to start recruiting more aggressively. Particularly among the younger students. Uncle Moony was worried about the incident at the Quiddich World cup and also about the dream Harry had, where Voldermort had killed someone. He was worried that Voldermort was coming back. And Harry had no doubt that any untrained students would be easy targets for those who supported him.

* * *

It was one of the students that had been recruited after casting a wider net that caught his attention. He was walking to the Great hall from Charms when he saw a student who he was quite sure was called Luna Lovegood. He stopped to talk to her because she was walking barefoot.

It turned out that she was prone to blame her missing belongings on nargles. Harry had tried to explain to her that they didn't really exist. He had lost that argument. But Luna was sweet and aggressively non judgemental. Or at least very reluctant to accuse her housemates of taking her shoes and other missing things.

* * *

Harry had of course put two and two together. He then separated the Ravenclaw girls at the next meeting of the self defense group. He wondered what they thought the reason was. Some of them probably thought they were going to be asked for help with researching the second task. They were going to get a nasty shock.

"I want to speak with all of you about the serious infestation of nargles in the Ravenclaw girls dorms," Harry started. The girls all looked worried, guilty or scared. He was sure they would have been amused if Luna had said the same thing.

When none of them spoke, Harry continued, "I hope all of you will do your part in eradicating every last nargle. By the next meeting, I want you to make sure that nobody's possessions disappear without an explanation." He kept his tone pleasant but serious.

"After all if the infestation gets worse, who knows whose shoes will walk off next…" The threat was obvious. By now all the girls were looking alarmed. He was now sure that everyone knew about Luna being bullied, even if all of them didn't participate.

Luna it seemed noticed the change in her house and had commented to Harry that all the nargles who seemed to like her things in the past, had finally tired of her. Harry wasted no time in argument about the existence of nargles and congratulated her on getting rid of them.

* * *

The next Triwizard tournament disaster was a Yule ball. Harry was very keen to avoid it. But it turned out that Harry could be denied permission to leave the castle at Christmas if he had any prior engagements over the holidays.

Harry had fumed, especially because it meant that he would not meet Uncle Moony until the summer holidays. That too, only if the survived the remaining Triwizard tasks.

But the biggest problem with the ball was that he was expected to dance with a girl. Harry had learnt how to dance, but he had no interest in taking a girl to the ball. In the minds of many young witches, going to a ball with a boy was as good as a marriage proposal. And Harry was apparently the perfect hero. His reputation for being invincible made him the most sought after student at Hogwarts. And that was an impressive feat considering that the Beauxbatons champion was part vela.

Harry had decided that he needed to get a date to the ball as soon as possible and he had the perfect candidate in mind. He asked Luna the day after the ball was announced. She had said yes, much to his relief. And she had not looked even slightly disappointed when Harry said he only wanted to go with her as friends.

And by the end of the week he was in high spirits since Uncle Moony had promised to meet him at Hogsmede.

* * *

Harry had managed to lose his friends by going to the used book shop in Hogsmede. He had promised to meet them again in an hour at Honeydukes, but he doubted they would be suspicious if he was even a couple of hours late. A lot of students and even some Professors joked that the hat should have put him in Ravenclaw.

Harry wasted no time in going to a secluded corner of the shop and pulling an Invisibility cloak over himself. He had no idea why Dumbledore had his father's cloak or why the old man had returned it to Sirius. Uncle Moony suspected he was trying to regain Sirius and Harry's trust. But if that was his plan it had clearly not worked.

Harry walked out of the shop behind an elderly wizard. Then he went to the Shrieking shack and waited. Uncle Moony arrived in disguise. He had brought pizza for lunch. They didn't bother cleaning the furniture. He just conjured a table and two chairs.

Harry had already taken a bite of pizza when Uncle Moony said, "An auror came to ask about you."

Harry choked. When he had stopped coughing, he asked, "About me? But why?"

"They were apparently investigating an unusual incident at the school. He didn't even mention the Triwizard tournament. It seems that it's quite common for muggleborns to not tell their parents about the dangerous things at Hogwarts."

Harry was surprised to say the least. But it made sense. Justin had not told his parents he had been pertified. The school had sent someone to tell them that he was suffering from a magical condition and they would treat him soon. His parents had assumed it was a disease and Justin had not corrected them. The reason was obvious. If they knew the whole story, he wouldn't have been able to return to school. Harry decided to think about this later.

"So Kingsley Shaklebolt came to our, or rather, Harry Carter's house to inquire about his life outside of Hogwarts. I told him the same old story. Model student, won a scholarship to a private school, good at at academics and sports, well liked by everyone…"

All of that was true, and Harry hoped the auror asked his neighbors and classmates about him. They would tell the same story and hopefully end his investigation before he found something troublesome. "Did he ask about you?" Harry asked.

"Not much more than the basic questions. I don't think he was interested in me. He didn't suspect anything," he said. Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Any problems at Hogwarts? Other than the tournament, I mean," Uncle Moony asked.

"Not really. I'm trying to figure out who put my name in the Goblet, but no luck yet," He replied.

"I have no idea what we can do about it either," Uncle Moony said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Harry was debating whether he should mention his suspicions.

"Uncle Moony, you said that You Know Who might have something to do with putting my name in the Goblet. Do you think he knows that I'm Harry Potter?"

Uncle Moony dropped his soda glass. He had clearly not thought of this possibility. He pulled out his wand, cleaned up the spill and repaired the glass. His hand was still shaking. "Why do you think that Harry?" he asked.

"Wouldn't it be too much of a coincidence if he was targeting a muggleborn boy who was Harry Potter in disguise, if he didn't know?" Harry asked rhetorically.

"But you're not just any muggleborn boy. You have been teaching people to defend themselves, and you got a Death Eater out of Hogwarts. He has enough reasons to target you even if he doesn't know," Uncle Moony protested. But Harry knew him well enough to know that he didn't believe that.

"Please don't worry about me Uncle Moony, I'll be fine," Harry said trying to reassure him. If Voldermort really knew, there was nothing more they could do about it. Maybe they would go into hiding when he went home for the summer. But he couldn't leave Hogwarts in the middle of the tournament. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he did.

Harry met his friends at the Three Broomsticks at lunch. They were not particularly surprised that had spent the whole morning at the bookshop.

* * *

The Yule Ball arrived in no time at all and there was an uproar when everyone saw that Hermione was going with Victor Krum. When they saw who Harry was taking as his partner, McGonagall had to threaten to threaten anyone who didn't behave with being sent to their dorms immediately, before order was restored. Harry thought Luna might actually have some sense of self preservation when she told people that they were going to the ball just as friends.

It seemed all the females at Hogwarts thought themselves better companions than Luna. They often voiced this opinion within his hearing and Harry only resisted the urge to curse them because Luna was doing a spectacular job of ignoring them.

Dancing with her turned out to be fun. It seemed that she loved dancing. And her knack for saying the most outrageous things was very entertaining to watch as long as she was saying the outrageous things to someone else.

Harry was as surprised as anyone to see Hermione with Victor Krum. He would have thought they had nothing in common, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves too.

But surprisingly Hannah and Susan didn't seem to be having fun. Harry had no luck in solving the mystery of their bad mood. They had been excited when the ball was announced, but now they were sulking. He finally gave up of improving their mood and went back to dance with Luna.

* * *

Harry had again enlisted his friends in the self defense group to help him with the egg. Cedric was surprisingly the one who gave him the answer. The egg had to be opened under water.

Harry was quite confused about what they were going to take from him. He definitely didn't own anything worth dying for. Not even the invisibility cloak or the broom Sirius had given him. But he would have to participate. So Harry decided to be prepared. He spent his time researching merpeople.

"Harry, why are you researching merpeople?" Susan asked him in the library one day.

"Because they are going to take something from me, and I'm going to have to go to the bottom of the lake to get it back. You don't think they will just give it to me, do you?" Harry asked.

"But what about breathing under water?" Susan asked.

"I'm going to summon scuba diving gear. My dad bought it. I am practicing using it," Harry told her. Breathing under water was a problem that had already been solved, by muggles. He would summon the scuba gear at the start of the task and he would be able to breathe under water.

Susan was worried about using something only muggles used, but Harry had eventually convinced her that it would be safe. Then they both went back to looking up information on merpeople.

* * *

Harry was nervous on the day of the second task. But had set his alarm early to make sure he would have time to find out what he needed to retrieve from the merpeople. It turned out he was not missing anything valuable. But as he went down to breakfast he realized that Justin was not in the dorm. He was not at breakfast either. Harry was considering going to Professor Sprout, when Ludo Bagman called the champions to the lake. His friends assured him they would find Justin before the task.

* * *

Harry was too shocked to be angry when they told him that he would be rescuing Justin from the lake. He wasted no time in summoning the scuba apparatus. He was the last one in the lake. Cedric and Fleur were using Bubble Headed Charms. Harry had decided against them because they were quite unstable and couldn't be recast under water. There was no air to form a bubble. Krum was using partial transfiguration on himself. It was dangerous under the best of circumstances, and he had done it badly.

In spite of being last in the water, Harry had overtaken all his competitors within ten minutes. He had the advantage of having flippers and a lot of experience swimming. He reached the village where the merpeople lived, and put his atrocious mermish to use. He had read that the merpeople were not particularly violent nor were they interested in money or gold. That meant he didn't want to hurt them and they were unlikely to accept bribes. But they were not capable of much magic. They were quite similar to muggles, except that they lived under water.

Harry said in mermish, "I offer you my help with magic in exchange for my friend." A merwoman who looked like she was the leader asked him, "What can you do?"

Harry it seemed could do a lot for the merpeople. He spent the next half an hour mending broken furniture, enlarging or shrinking clothes and bedsheets and drying herbs. All the practice casting spells under water was well worth the effort.

Harry finally went to the village square where he could see Cedric untying a girl from a statue. He knew that Krum had already rescued his hostage. He wasted no time in freeing Justin. But their time was almost up. He looked around. There was no sign of Fleur.

Her hostage was a child who was still tied to the statue. He wondered if she would really drown after the hour was over. It was unlikely, but he didn't have much confidence in the tournament organisers. He pulled off his scuba gear and approached her. The merpeople tried to stop him, but when he explained what he was doing, they agreed. They didn't want the girl to die in the lake either.

Harry caught hold of Justin's arm and pulled the mouthpiece out of his mouth and put it in the girl's. She didn't wake up but started breathing again. Harry was out of time and kicked off the ground. He cast flotation charms on himself and Justin. Dragging another person out of the water was not an easy task, even with the spells. His lungs were on fire when they finally broke the surface.

The audience was cheering. Harry was relieved to see that Justin had woken up, was not injured and could swim on his own. They were soon out of the water.

Harry was surprised to see Dumbledore having a conversation with a merwoman and then some merpeople brought the young girl out of the water. Fleur went halfway into the lake to take her from them. She seemed surprised by the scuba gear, but ignored it in favor of embracing her sister.

It seemed that the judges were impressed by Harry's actions in helping the merpeople and in giving the oxygen tank to Fleur's hostage. He got a fairly high score. Harry was not particularly worried about scores. He was just glad that nobody had drowned.

* * *

Because the rest of the school had not seen what happened underwater, stories of his exploits in the second task were wildly exaggerated. Students were telling each other that he had fought off half the merpeople in the lake to clear the way for the other champions and then rescued both Justin and Fleur's hostage.

Fluer and Gabrielle had thanked him very publically in the Great Hall at dinner adding fuel to the fire. By the end of the week Harry had gotten tired of correcting the stories, and given up.

For the first time since his name had come out of the Goblet, Harry had free time. His self defence group had a lot of members but he had delegated some of the teaching responsibilities, the next task was months away and he didn't have a clue to work out. They were going to tell him what it was a month in advance.

So Harry turned his attention to finding out who had put his name in the Goblet of Fire. He had hoped that the Ministry would investigate and find something. Having a fourth champion in a Triwizard tournament must have upset the other ministries in Europe. But when he asked Moody he said they had made no progress. Moody was investigating, but he had not come up with anything.

Harry decided that instead of thinking like the policemen, he needed to think like the criminals. Instead of asking what was wrong with the security around the Goblet of Fire, he needed to ask, how could someone put Harry's name into it?

The most obvious answer was that it had been someone who was older than seventeen. They wouldn't be stopped by the age line. The person also needed to be good at magic. They had confounded a powerful magical artifact, since Harry had clearly been entered under a fourth school. So Harry doubted it was a current student. He had long since made a list of all the legal adults in the school and decided that they were not likely candidates.

He considered the teachers again. He didn't know Moody, Slughorn or the teachers who taught subjects he didn't take, particularly well. But they didn't seem like likely candidates. None of the current Hogwarts teachers were ever suspected of sympathizing with Death Eaters. None of the students, even the slytherins were likely to be given such a difficult and important task. Nor did he think any of them would take such a big risk.

That left only one option. Someone was not who they claimed to be. But how to find them?

* * *

Harry decided on speaking to the students in his self defense group. He first spoke to the ones he knew well. He told them that he was trying to find out who had put his name in the Goblet of Fire. He suspected that someone was impersonating a student and had entered his name. And he asked whether anyone was behaving differently.

Harry soon had a list of suspects. He sent his friends to follow them, and check if they were using Polyjuice Potion. He doubted anything else would work as well.

The first round of investigations yielded nothing useful. Ginny Weasley apparently always acted strangely. But nobody thought she was taking Polyjuice Potion. And she was too young to cross the age line if it was really her.

He then spoke to more students and asked them the same questions. That gave him even more suspects.

It was a first year who gave Harry something promising. One of the Ravenclaw boys was acting strangely for a first year. He would finish his homework in record time. He stayed out after curfew often, but had never been caught, he had no friends and no interest in making any and most interestingly of all, he had a flask that he sometimes drank from but refused to let anyone else drink from it.

A first year was a good choice. Hewould be underestimated by everyone and wouldn't have many friends who knew him well. Harry had him watched and soon enough they were able to find the broom closet where he brewed his Polyjuice Potion. Harry had decided he didn't want anyone else to know what the imposter had to say. Nobody knew he was Harry Potter and he didn't want that to change.

So that weekend, Harry had the "first year Ravenclaw" followed by six members of his self defense group. He didn't seem to notice at first. And since he had chosen to wander the dungeons that morning, Harry had no difficulty in cornering him with four more members of the group. They successfully restrained him, but they had been hit with serious curses. The imposter had stunned two of them, hit one student with a bone breaking curse and another with some kind of suffocation spell.

Harry had the students who had only been disarmed or hit with the jelly legs curse take him into an empty classroom as he dealt with the suffocation spell first. He was able to end the spell in time. He then examined the person hit with the spell that broke bones. He put his broken leg in a splint and gave him Sleke Gro. His bones were in too many pieces to be fixed with spells. Then he revived the stunned students and dealt with the minor injuries. The best kept secret of the self defense group was that Harry was very good at dealing with injuries after a fight.

Harry then went into the classroom to get some answers. He cast Finite Incantem at any students who were still unsteady on their legs and then sent them out. They were understandably reluctant to leave him alone with a man who was so dangerous in a fight. But he had been disarmed and bound and he would be under the effect of Veritaserum. Harry insisted that they leave and they did in the end.

He put three drops of Veritaserum in the boy's mouth. Then he cast Ennervate. The boy woke up blinking.

"What is your name?" Harry asked.

"Barty Crouch Junior," he replied. Harry stared at him. He was supposed to be dead. Buried in Azkaban.

"Why are you at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"To enter Harry Potter in the Triwizard tournament."

So he was right. A Death Eater had put his name in the Goblet. He tried to keep his voice calm as he asked the next question.

"How did you know I was Harry Potter?" Harry asked.

"I didn't know," he replied.

"Then why did you put my name in the Goblet?"

"I put Harry Potter in the Goblet. But your name came out," he explained.

Harry hit his forehead with his hand. How could this have happened? Harry Potter went into the Goblet of Fire and Harry Carter came out. Had this happened because of the Fidelius charm?

Harry doubted he would remember what he had heard under the effect of Veritaserum, but he was not going to take any chances. He pointed his wand at the boy and said, "Oblivate." Harry wiped his memory of the ambush and interrogation, so far. He needed to get Uncle Moony's advice. Luckily he had brought is communication notebook.

Harry explained what had happened to Uncle Moony. To say that he was shocked would be an understatement. But he agreed with Harry that the Death Eater had to be Oblivated. Harry gave him a new dose of Veritaserum and proceeded to ask questions suggested by Uncle Moony.

"Why did You Know Who want Harry Potter entered into the Triwizard tournament?" Harry asked.

"Because he is missing and if his name came out of the Goblet of Fire he would have to compete," Barty Crouch replied.

"Why did You Know Who want him to compete in the tournament?"

"The Dark Lord wants him for a ritual to regain his body. Having him compete in the tournament would force him out in the open."

That made sense. "What is the ritual? What's wrong with Voldermort?"

"I don't know."

"What were you going to do if Harry Potter had shown up at the tournament?"

"I don't know."

"What are you going to do now that you didn't find Harry Potter?"

"Stay at the school and spy on the teachers and students."

"What have you done to the student you are impersonating?"

"I sedated him and put him in a cell in the dungeons." Harry got the exact location of the student from him.

Then he proceeded to modify the man's memory. Uncle Moony had suggested that he should change what the man wrote on the piece of paper he put into the Goblet of Fire. Harry changed the name to just Harry instead of Harry Potter.

After that he Oblivated the Death Eater. He told the rest of the students what they were going to do with their prisoner. Then he poured a very mild sedative down the imposter's throat. He then confounded him and told him to go to the Great hall for an early lunch.

Two of them went ahead, and the rest followed the imposter at a safe distance. Fortunately he walked straight to the Great Hall and sat down at the Ravenclaw table, staring blankly at the plate in front of him.

Harry and his friends sat at their respective tables, with their wands pointed at the Death Eater under the table.

It took only a few minutes for the Polyjuice Potion to wear off. As soon as the first year Ravenclaw started turning into an adult wizard, there was pandemonium in the hall. As Harry had instructed them, two of the Ravenclaws who had participated in the ambush had stunned him. Nobody saw them do it in all the confusion and screaming. He lay immobile on the table surrounded by curious students who were pointing and staring.

The crowd parted as Dumbledore and McGaonagall approached. They took him away from the Great Hall, to the disappointment of the assembled students.

Harry had called a meeting to explain what was going on. He explained that the man pretending to be a first year was actually a Death Eater. He was also supposed to be dead. He told his friends everything except that he was Harry Potter.

Later that afternoon, Harry went to the dungeons under the invisibility cloak with Justin. They found the cell empty, which meant that the first year had been rescued. They congratulated themselves on a job well done and went back to the common room.

* * *

Over the next few days, it turned out that Uncle Moony was right. Everyone just assumed that Barty Crouch Junior had entered the wrong name into the Goblet. It was after all the only explanation that made sense. Harry thought it was wishful thinking. He was ordered to put in Harry Potter. Why would he not write the full name on the parchment?

Harry did not dwell on the magical world's ability to ignore things right in front of their faces. He spent his time looking up new spells and curses so that he would not be caught off guard the next time he had to fight someone like Barty Crouch Jr. He had ambushed the man with nine friends. And they had still almost lost. Harry was determined that it would not happen again.

* * *

A/N: Once again thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed etc. Now that everything has settled down, I should be able to post the next chapter within a week.

Next time: The end of the Triwizard tournament and all the problems associated with it, can't come soon enough for Harry. But for Remus the problems are of his own making.


	12. Chapter 12: Consequences

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A few days after Barty Crouch Junior was sent to prison, he read an article in the Daily Prophet saying that he had been kissed by Dementors. Harry found the small, bland article quite suspicious. He had expected that whatever happened to the first Death Eater to escape Azkaban, would be featured prominently in the newspaper. People were curious about him. And Crouch Senior had been a contender for the position of Minister. He was sure Fudge would not miss an opportunity to end his political career once and for all.

So Harry had mentioned all his suspicions to all his friends. He was sure something was wrong. But of course he doubted the DMLE would tell him anything. So he would have to wait and watch.

* * *

Harry and his friends had started looking into obscure spells. He was looking for spells that would incapacitate his opponents and couldn't be reversed easily. The stunning spell was easy to undo. In a fight against multiple opponents it would be easy for them to keep reviving each other. And he used the fight against Barty Crouch Junior as an example of what could happen if his friends insisted on not harming their opponents.

Hermione was apparently one of the people still uncomfortable with his new strategy. Harry could see that she was not the only one who was having doubts. A thought experiment was in order.

Harry called his students' attention and asked, "Do any of you think we shouldn't be using these spells if someone attacks us?"

Nobody replied. It always annoyed Harry that the people he had known for years did not feel comfortable disagreeing with him.

"Hermione, what do you think?" Harry asked, surprising her.

"I…" Hermione hesitated, but Harry knew she would eventually tell him what she was thinking. "We shouldn't be using the spells the Death Eaters use! They are dangerous and they can cause permanent damage. We might even kill someone!" she exclaimed.

"I can see your point," Harry said nodding to Hermione. "And I will not decide how any of you fight or whether you fight at all. But have you considered what would really happen if someone who hates muggleborns and muggles attacks your home?" He paused to let people imagine the horror of the situation.

"Death Eaters always attack in groups. And you as a muggleborn might be the only person in the house capable of doing magic. How do you plan to defend yourself against four or more Death Eaters, who might be there to kidnap or kill your whole family?"

Harry paused but Hermione didn't reply. She looked worried. After a few seconds she seemed to have an objection, but Harry interrupted her. "Are you going to say that this would not happen? A lot of muggleborns were attacked during the Blood war, many were killed with their parents and siblings. About half the muggleborns who were not married into wizarding families left the country. Many others disappeared into the muggle world. If there is another war, you will be targeted, because you are a brilliant witch. The Pureblood supremacists can't have you living among them and proving their bigotry wrong."

Hermione looked pale now as did a few others. "But isn't there anything we can do to keep my parents safe? Even if I fight like the Death Eaters, I might lose!" Hermione asked. Hermione had accepted his point, so he turned back to the group, "There are some things we can do to keep our parents safe. But it will be easier when we are adults. For now we are not at war, so everyone will probably be safe."

The self defense group had started practicing spells Harry had researched. He had found spells which had short incantations, so they could be cast quicker than whatever the Death Eaters were using. He also had everyone practice casting spells silently, which he believed helped with casting spells faster, not to mention their opponents wouldn't know what spell had been cast. His friends would soon be a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

After finding out how his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry had considered what might have happened. Barty Crouch had put Harry Potter into the Goblet. And his name had come out as Harry Carter not just Harry or even Harry Potter. Nobody else knew about the Fidelius charm. So they had accepted that Crouch had made a mistake. But because only Uncle Moony could reveal the fact that Harry Potter was hiding as Harry Carter, the Goblet of Fire changed his name, to keep the secret protected by the Fidelius charm. The charm was almost invincible if the secret keeper was trustworthy. He could now understand why his parents had believed themselves safe.

* * *

Harry had been informed that the third task would be a maze with the Triwizard cup in the center. He had the perfect plan to deal with it.

Harry had not met his supposedly muggle father, on the day before the final task. He was watching his rivals interact with their families. He still didn't understand why these adults had decided that it was worth risking their children's lives. But they were all adults not children. Maybe they had participated against their parents' wishes.

Cedric's parents came to speak to Harry since he was alone. Harry assured them that he was not upset about being alone. He would be going home in a week and it would have been difficult for his muggle father to travel to Hogwarts.

Harry had decided against it because he didn't want Uncle Moony to be under scrutiny. He would have to jump through a lot of hoops to get to Hogwarts as the muggle John Carter.

Harry was surprised to see that only Cedric's mother was worried about her son participating in a dangerous task the next morning. His father was both proud of Cedric and confident in his ability to win. That made the conversation awkward, since both Harry and Cedric knew that Harry was the favourite to win the tournament. But he was polite and pleasant while speaking to his friend's parents.

Harry's friends, of course, had been enthusiastic in their best wishes and proclamations that he would be the next Triwizard champion.

* * *

The third task seemed to take forever while Harry was in the maze. But later he felt it had sped by with the speed of a Firebolt.

Harry had the maximum points and was the first to enter the maze. He didn't rush. He was careful and deliberate as he walked into the maze. He had a plan. And he was going to follow it.

It had been half an hour since the task had started, and Harry had only met a few obstacles. He was following the path of least resistance. Occasionally he saw something he needed to avoid. He cast the impediment jinx at a niffler and ran in the opposite direction. He didn't want to be torn to shreds while the creature looked for shiny objects.

The next problem was a moss like plant that seemed to be part of the walls. It grew so quickly that it was restraining him, before he had realized it. Harry was fortunately able to free himself by casting the withering curse on it.

Some time later, Harry was shocked to hear a scream. But it was so far away that Harry doubted he could find the participant who was in danger. He hoped the teachers would be able to help. Unfortunately there were no red sparks being shot into the air. Harry hoped that the teachers would investigate anyway.

It felt like he had been walking for hours. Harry had not seen anything remotely dangerous for a long time. He was reasonably sure that he was on the other side of the maze as he had entered from. He was tired and hungry. Finally he sat down leaning against the wall.

He hoped he was too far for Professor Moody to see that he had given up on the task. He didn't want to go anywhere near the Triwizard Cup and the dangers that were sure to surround it.

He had decided almost as soon as he heard what the third task would be, that he would stay out of danger and let someone else win. He was the unwanted fourth champion and even though nobody at Hogwarts accused him of cheating anymore, he was sure that people were going to be suspicious in France and Bulgaria. The tournament officials would probably not want him to win either. And if he won, he would be under increased scrutiny. Harry wanted to avoid it as much as he could. He was hiding his real identity after all and was trying to avoid unnecessary attention.

Harry was startled by Professor Sprout. She seemed to have appeared out of thin air and was worried. Harry had almost attacked her, since he was not expecting a teacher in the maze. But it made sense. Someone must have won, and they had come to take the other champions out of the maze.

Harry followed his head of house to the judges table, which was empty. The judges were either talking to each other, pacing or staring at the maze.

Dumbledore had looked relieved to see him. A few minutes later he addressed the teachers coming out of the maze behind them. "Any sign of him Minerva, Horace?" The two professors shook their heads.

Professor Dumbledore walked back to the maze and started casting spells silently. Harry guessed if a champion was missing in the maze, he was trying to undo the spells making the walls impermeable to magic. Then they could find out if the missing champion was in the maze with _Homonum revelio_ and maybe even locate him with a _Point Me_ spell.

Harry allowed Professor Sprout to lead him to the rest of the fourth year Hufflepuffs and was surprised when she insisted on escorting them back to their dorms, along with some of the younger students.

As he was about to enter the common room, Harry asked Professor Sprout, "Who is still missing?"

He didn't know if he even expected an answer, but she shocked all the students who heard her by saying, "Cedric."

* * *

The Hufflepuffs were agitated and stayed in the common room hoping Cedric would be found and returned.

Harry had no idea what was going on. He had tried to explain to his housemates that he had never seen Cedric inside the maze and didn't know what had happened to him. He didn't even know why Cedric was missing. Mad Eye Moody could see through the walls of the maze. And the teachers surely had a map. They could search every corner of the maze between them in a couple of hours.

Finally Harry went to the dorm to escape the persistent questions of his housemates. Someone would tell him when Cedric was found.

* * *

To his surprise Harry had fallen asleep. He woke the next morning when Justin was shaking his shoulder.

"Cedric is still missing," he said.

"But how can he be missing? They can cut down the walls of the maze with magic," Harry replied. He still couldn't understand what had happened.

"There is no maze on the Quiddich pitch anymore. But they haven't found him," Justin replied.

Harry stared at him in confusion. How was that possible? Had Cedric decided to run away or hide for some reason? No that didn't make sense. He had most likely been kidnapped. The maze with magic impermeable walls would be the ideal place to commit the crime. But how had it been done?

"Are they searching for him?" Harry asked.

Justin nodded. Harry decided to go to breakfast to join the rest of Hufflepuff in the Great Hall.

* * *

A few hours later, they had more news, but it was not good. Harry had assembled his Defense group to brainstorm.

Dumbledore had announced that Cedric had disappeared with the Triwizard cup, which was a portkey. It was supposed to transport the winner to the front of the maze, but it seemed that Cedric had been taken somewhere else.

"How could he just disappear!" Hermione exclaimed. That was exactly what everyone was wondering.

"More importantly, why was he kidnapped?" Harry asked.

"He won a thousand galleons. Maybe someone kidnapped him for the money?" One of the Weasley twins said.

"Not likely. There hasn't been a demand for ransom. Although, maybe there has been and they just don't want to tell us," Harry said thoughtfully, changing his mind mid-sentence. It was still quite unlikely though. Why go to all that trouble to kidnap a Triwizard champion? The kidnappers could have taken a younger child from a richer family with far less trouble.

"We can just abandon Cedric! We have to do something!" Cho Chang objected. Harry thought she was Cedric's girlfriend.

"What should we do?" Harry asked. That was the reason for the meeting. Harry was hoping someone else would have an idea to find Cedric. But nobody spoke.

"Has everyone given up?" a young muggleborn girl asked, with tears in her eyes.

"No, the Ministry will be able to find out where the Triwizard cup took Cedric eventually. The Department of Transportation can track portkeys. But we are worried because it will take them too much time. Cedric's kidnappers know that the portkey can be tracked and might move him," Harry explained. That was the reason why people didn't make unauthorized portkeys. They could be tracked down. Of course what everyone was really worried about was that Cedric might already be dead. Well there was no point mentioning it. They had to assume he was alive till they had proof of his death.

"So they might find Cedric then? How long will it take to find out where the portkey took Cedric?" another young student asked hopefully.

"It might take anywhere between 24 to 48 hours. I think they will try to be quick in this case, since it involves kidnapping and it's so high profile," Harry replied.

Many of the students in the room took that to mean that Cedric wouldn't be found alive. Whoever had taken him would likely not keep him alive in the same place for longer than a full day. Fortunately Harry was able to leave the meeting without any hysterics.

He was as upset as anyone and Cedric had been his friend as well. But he didn't see how screaming or crying would help. He was soon accosted by Justin, Hannah and Susan.

"Can't you think of anything?" Hannah asked.

"I can't think of anything that would definitely work," Harry replied.

"So you have thought of something?" she persisted.

"Yes. The most likely person to have tampered with the portkey is the person who made it or the one who put it in the maze," Harry replied. Everyone nodded.

"So I sent a letter to Madam Bones and Cedric's parents saying that they should have those two people interrogated under Veritaserum," Harry replied. "And if they are not involved, then all other teachers and tournament officials should be questioned under the truth serum as well."

"Do you think they will really let Auntie do it though?" Susan asked.

"I don't know. But that is the reason I sent the letter to Cedric's parents. It would be very difficult for the Wizengamot to refuse permission to interrogate everyone involved with the tournament under these circumstances."

Unfortunately, they could think of nothing else that would help find their missing friend.

* * *

That evening at dinner, Dumbledore stood to make an announcement. All eyes were on him and there was pin drop silence in the usually noisy hall.

"I regret to inform you that the DMLE have recovered the body of Cedric Diggory, who was found to have won the Triwizard tournament. His parents have taken possession of his body and request that everyone respects their desire for privacy to mourn their son.

"Cedric was kind, fair and hardworking. He epitomized the best qualities of Hufflepuff. He was also a brilliant student and Quiddich captain. He was the best of us and his loss will be felt by all who knew him. Let us observe a moment of silence in honor of Cedric Diggory who was taken from us too early."

Dumbledore stood silently for the tribute and all the Hufflepuffs got to their feet followed by the rest of the students to show their respect.

* * *

Harry had thought briefly that things could not possibly get any worse. One of his friends had been kidnapped and killed. And he could very well have been in Cedric's place, if he had wanted to win the tournament. He wondered if he should feel guilty about it. If he had taken the cup, maybe Cedric would be alive.

But surprisingly he didn't feel guilty at all. Or maybe it was not surprising, because he could never have been the champion who won the Triwizard tournament. Not only had he not wanted to enter, and had been forced to compete by a Death Eater, but he could never draw so much unnecessary attention to himself and Uncle Moony. He would never forgive himself if he had won the tournament and been discovered as Harry Potter. He had no doubt that Uncle Moony would spend the rest of his life in Azkaban for the crime. And as a werewolf, trapped in a tiny cell, along with the Dementors, that would not be a long imprisonment.

But on the last day of term, Dumbledore had made a truly shocking speech. Harry was really hoping that he had been dreaming or had misunderstood something. But the more he thought about it, the more sense everything made. It looked like the next war was at their doorstep.

* * *

Harry could barely wait until Uncle Moony had taken him home to start asking his questions. But Uncle Moony was trying to delay the interrogation. He seemed to be as paranoid as Mad Eye Moody, as they took a muggle train to the suburbs of London, then apparated to half a dozen different streets before going home. When they reached their house, he put Harry's luggage in his room and made them hot chocolate before sitting at the dining table.

Harry immediately asked, "Did you hear Dumbledore's crazy theory?"

"It's not a crazy theory Harry. It's the only theory that makes sense right now," Uncle Moony replied.

"I admit that I agree with the part where You Know Who sent a Death Eater to enter Harry Potter into the Triwizard tournament. And Susan's aunt confirmed that the Ministry lost Crouch Junior. The Minister knew it would be his last mistake if it got out, so he leaked to the press that he had been kissed."

"Dumbledore thinks that Crouch Jr. was impersonating Mad Eye Moody when the Triwizard cup was put into the maze. Do you know how he escaped from the Ministry?"

"No I don't!" Harry said frustrated. "We should have asked how he managed to escape from Azkaban when we had the chance!"

Uncle Moony nodded. "It's in the past now. Which part of the story did you not believe?" he asked.

"Everything else. How does Dumbledore know that Cedric was needed for You Know Who to come back? I thought he needed Harry Potter!"

"Dumbledore told the Order the same story. But he also told us that You Know Who took Cedric to the graveyard where his father is buried. And Cedric's family has been opposed to You Know Who. Sirius thinks there is a ritual that can regenerate a wizard's body. It requires bone of the father, flesh of a servant and blood of an enemy, which he might consider Cedric to be. Especially since he was not able to use you for the ritual."

Harry listened shocked. Sirius would have access to the Black family's library. He would need to look up this ritual. But the more important question was, "Where exactly did the portkey take Cedric?"

"Dumbledore didn't tell us that. I asked, but he avoided the question," Uncle Moony replied.

"But surely this could be valuable information. If we know who You Know Who is related to, we could use the information against him!" Harry said, excited. He would find out eventually. Dumbledore might not tell him, but he was sure he could find out from someone who worked in the Department of Transportation.

"He might be protecting the family because they aren't on His side," Uncle Moony said.

"Maybe. I don't want to attack a family because of who they are related to, but you have to admit that Dumbledore wouldn't tell us even if they were the worst of the Death Eaters," Harry said.

"You have a point," Uncle Moony said with a wry smile.

"So he is back?" Harry asked in a resigned tone.

"He is back," Uncle Moony replied.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked.

"We hide for the summer. We can tell the neighbors and your friends that we are going on vacation. Then we go into hiding till the end of August. If things aren't too bad you can go back to school. If you don't go back, they are going to look for you, since you are claiming to be a muggleborn. And we don't want to draw attention to ourselves until it's absolutely necessary"

Harry nodded. They had discussed this before. But considering the possibility that Voldemort was back and him actually being back were completely different things.

"Don't worry Harry. I will keep you safe," Uncle Moony assured him.

* * *

Going into hiding was quite different form what Harry was expecting. Harry would have expected to live in a house that couldn't be traced back to them in their real or fake identities, change their appearances, live like muggles, and have no contact with anyone they knew.

But in reality, only Harry was doing these things. Uncle Moony was still doing whatever Dumbledore asked him to do. And what Dumbledore wanted was for him to get all the werewolves to take orders from Dumbledore. As if that would happen.

Uncle Moony knew that it was a lost cause, but he still insisted on negotiating with the werewolves on behalf of the Order. He thought it would attract too much attention if he refused to obey Dumbledore's whims.

But it was an incredibly dangerous job and he seemed to expect Uncle Moony to work for him indefinately and without pay. Not to mention there was almost no chance of success and a much higher chance that Uncle Moony would be torn to pieces by an angry werewolf. Just thinking about it made Harry's blood boil.

Of course Uncle Moony was right. He was expected to follow Dumbledore blindly. So he was doing unpaid work on Dumbledore's orders. And Harry was alone in their safe house, trying to catch up with his muggle education and distract himself with whatever was on TV.

* * *

It had been three days since Uncle Moony had gone somewhere on Dumbledore's orders. Harry was getting worried, because Uncle Moony had never stayed away for more than a day. He never even stayed away this long after the full moon. Where could he possibly be?

Harry received his copy of the Daily Prophet, the only connection they currently had with the wizarding world, and opened it, hoping to distract himself.

As soon as he read the headline his blood ran cold. "Remus Lupin arrested for kidnapping Boy Who Lived" it proclaimed in large, bold letters.

Harry hastily read the article accompanying the devastating headline. Then he read it two more times to ensure that he had read correctly, and had all the relevant information.

It seemed that Uncle Moony had been taken to the Ministry for questioning while he was shopping in Diagon Alley. Harry still couldn't believe it but this was legal under the new anti-werewolf laws. There he was questioned about his association with some members of Greyback's pack. And the Aurors had examined his wand for illegal spells, which was also legal, under the same laws.

They claimed that Uncle Moony had cast the Imperius curse multiple times and they were able to determine that he had cast the spell on Harry Potter's muggle relatives. He would be tried in front of the Wizengamot in a week and would be kept in a high security cell in Azkaban until then.

Harry didn't know what to think. Uncle Moony had been caught for kidnapping him, but he was free to disappear if he wanted to. The ministry had no idea where or who he was. And Uncle Moony had been accused of casting the Imperius curse! How was that possible? There was no one who was less likely to do such a thing.

But most important of all, the man who had rescued him from the hopeless, sub human existence he had with his relatives was in prison and he had no hope of getting him out.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed or favourited this story. I know it has been ages. I apologize once again. But the next chapter should be done within a week at most.

Also, I have made several spelling mistakes (like "Voldermort") in previous chapters. Thank you to everyone who pointed them out. I will try to fix them all when I post the next chapter.

In the first chapter Remus uses the Imperius curse on Harry's relatives and seems to get away with it. The next chapter is about how everyone reacts to finding out about that and who kidnapped Harry.

What do you think will happen to Remus? And what will Harry do? I am curious to know everyone's opinion at this point in the story. So please leave a review, with your thoughts.


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